Characterizing Historical Approach to Understand Contemporary Southeast Asia

This article discusses the historical approach to understand contemporary Southeast Asia and its characteristics. It covers the impact of colonialism, nationalism, communism, socialism, and religion on the region's political, social, and economic growth.

Running head: MANAGEMENT ASN2665
Contemporary South East Asia
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note:

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Question No 1.
‘‘Based on what you have heard from the lecture and radio interviews, and from your reading
of this week’s article, what do you think characterizes the historical approach and how does it
help understand contemporary Southeast Asia?’.
Answer to Question No 1.
South East Asia is one of the most important parts of not only Asia but the globe as it is a
source of a number of natural resources as well as Human resources with a varied range of skills.
According to, Ahmad Abu and Liok (2003) the history of South East Asia is generally marred by
Colonialism as it forms an integral part in the study of the political, social and economical
growth of the following region. Colonialism formed an integral part of the region as different
European powers colonized different areas of the region in different times. The main reason for
colonization was the access to raw materials, trading commodities, spreading religion and
bringing a community under one single umbrella. However, political, social and economical
exploitation gave rise to nationalism, communism and socialism. The influence of religion like
Buddhism and Islam was also one of the main characteristics of this era. Though the countries
were successful in gaining independence, the post independence challenges like poverty,
housing, food and health troubled the leaders the most.
On the other hand the de-colonization effect was followed by the era of the Cold War
where the USA and Soviet fought for gaining the trust of the different SE Asian countries. The
policies of these two power blocks led to the Bandung conference or the Asia Africa Conference
in 1955 which was attended by 29 different countries and signed a pact which stated the non
interference in the internal matters of countries (Ahmad Abu and Liok 2003). However internal

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strife in between Asian countries like India and China and the decline of communism led to the
formation of ASEAN in the year 1967. The major changes are thus attributed to the
industrialization and developmental attitudes of the Governments in SE Asia. Therefore South
East Asia has a rich political and cultural history that can be researched more deeply and in a
varied number of ways. The research has provided a clear and detailed picture of the different
kinds of the culture, political scenario and other religious and social perspectives of South East
Asia which can thus provide a detailed and transparent picture of South East Asia.

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References
Ahmad, Abu Talib, and Liok Ee Tan, eds. New terrains in Southeast Asian history. Vol. 107.
Ohio University Press, 2003.
Anderson, Warwick, and Ricardo Roque. "Introduction—Imagined laboratories: Colonial and
national racialisations in Island Southeast Asia." Journal of Southeast Asian Studies49, no. 3
(2018): 358-371.