The United States and Southeast Asia

The development of what has come to be thought of as Southeast Asia has been profoundly shaped by its interaction with other, more powerful, forces from outside the region. Whether this has been the impact of religious traditions from other parts of Asia, the impact of expanding economic relations within Asia itself, or the more recent and revolutionary impact of ‘the West’ (Beeson 2001a), the contemporary nature of the Southeast Asian region is in large part a consequence of influences from outside the region itself. As earlier chapters in this volume have demonstrated, in the last two hundred years or so European powers, and more recently the United States, have had a major impact on Southeast Asia’s development (see McCloud 1995). This pattern of regional susceptibility to external influences and power shows no sign of abating.