Thailand and ASEAN 1967-1979

The view of the international system in general as basically hostile is nevertheless firmly embedded in the beliefs of the leaders of the ASEAN states.31 The exertion of this influence of ‘realism’ on policy-makers may help to account somewhat for the strong influence of external factors, including external political and economic threats and the magnified communist menace, on regional policies as. [...] In the years after the Second World War and with the beginning of decolonization, the idea of solidarity among the developing and emergent states of the so-called ‘Third World’ was strong, stimulating impulses such as the 1955 Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung and leading up to the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1962. [...] However, Rieger has posited that the perception of the European Community in the eyes of the countries of ASEAN has in fact undergone important changes during the course of time: in the early years and through the 1970s the European example was thought to be worth emulating, an impression which lessened during the uncertainty within the European process in the early 1980s, although now the tide ap. [...] Among the most well-elaborated elements of Thanat’s themes was the concept of ‘Collective Political Defence’ which formed the basis behind his ideas for regional cooperation, as set out in various speeches such as the important statement to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York in May 1968, and in various interviews during the course of 1968-1969.98 The prominence given to the theme of Coll. [...] Moreover, the main drawback to such approaches and that of neorealism, as Hurrell suggests, is that they tend to ignore domestic factors and the identity of the actors involved.110 The sharp break between domestic and systemic factors would ignore, for example, the ambiguity in the Thai case as to the respective roles played by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the military, and the legitimizing.