Book launch: Southeast Asia's Multipolar Future: Averting a New Cold War
Asialink, along with the author Thomas Parks, launched the latest book, "Southeast Asia's Multipolar Future", at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre in Melbourne on 7 September 2023.
This book draws on historical and contemporary cases to illustrate Southeast Asia as an emerging open and autonomous region. In Parks' new book, he rejects the sentiment that we are moving towards a new Cold War, instead projecting that Southeast Asia will utilizes its diverse external partnerships with Japan, Australia, India and Europe to avoid the bipolar blocs of superpower rivalries.
As Southeast Asia becomes a rapidly competitive space for geopolitical rivals, Parks offers readers closer look at the strategies Southeast Asian small and middle powers' use to maintain sovereignty and shape regional order.
Joined by panellists — Chuyang Liu, Government Engagement Partner, Australian Red Cross; former Australian diplomat and Asian specialist, Dr. Pradeep Taneja, Deputy Associate Dean (International - India), Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne; and Daniel Flitton, Managing Editor, The Interpreter, Lowy Institute — the book launch event provided a closer look at the strategies employed by small and middle Southeast Asian powers and their role in shaping regional order towards the Multipolar Future.
