South and Southeast Asia: Responding to Changing Geo-political and Security Challenges

K V Kesavan and Daljit Singh

The essays in this volume provide the Indian and Southeast Asian perspectives on some of the geo-political and security challenges facing South and Southeast Asia. These include the interests and role of major outside powers in the two regions and the relations between these powers; the trends in Asian regionalism, especially the ASEAN-led regionalism and India's place in it; the growing maritime and naval interests of the two rising Asian powers, China and India; and the impact of climate change. Also addressed are two specific issues of great potential importance for the security calculus of the two regions: the South China Sea and Myanmar.

K V Kesavan and Daljit Singh A leading Indian scholar in the field of Japanese Studies, K.V. Kesavan is currently a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi. He is in charge of the Japanese Studies programme at ORF. He was professor of Japanese Studies on the faculty of the Centre for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, for over thirty years. Author of several books on Japan, he has also written numerous research papers in Indian and foreign academic journals on Japan's foreign policy and domestic politics. He has been a visiting professor/fellow at several universities in Japan and the US. In 2001, he received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation Award for his contribution to closer understanding between India and Japan.
Daljit Singh is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), where his research interest has been in Southeast Asian security including the role of the major powers. He has edited books on regional security and contributed articles in ISEAS and other publications. He has also edited or co-edited ISEAS’ annual review of Southeast Asia, Southeast Asian Affairs, for over a decade. He has contributed opinion pieces in the Straits Times, Business Times, International Herald Tribune and Opinion Asia.