ASEAN has its admirers and its critics. In its third decade, it is faced with having to do more than promote the interests of some of the region's most dynamic econommies. It has to do more for its six members than just preserve the peace between them. In the 1990s the old leaders of ASEAN will all be gone. What their successors do to make ASEAN cooperation work will determine how many of them join Singapore as a newly industrialised country. The agenda for the 1990s has Indochina near the top, but as well, how to cope with the economic prowess of Japan and the growing military strength of China. ASEAN confronts the need for security both from external and internal threats. Population pressure, income redistribution, insurgency and the influence of Islam will affect all six countries in different ways. This book, a successor to the influential Understanding ASEAN, identifies the problems and predicts the responses.
