Nationalism in Southeast Asia

"Nationalism in Southeast Asia seeks a definition of nationalism through examining its role in the history of Southeast Asia, a region rarely included in general books on the topic. By developing such a definition and testing it out, Nicholas Tarling hopes at the same time to make a contribution to Southeast Asian historiography and to limit its 'ghettoisation'." "The state-building of the colonial phase is seen as a directed process with unexpected outcomes: it helped to create and to provoke opposition that took the form of 'nationalist' movements. Tarling goes on to consider the role of nationalism in the 'nation-building' of the postcolonial phase, and its relationship both with the democratic aspirations associated with the winning of independence and with the authoritarianism of the closing decades of the twentieth century." "Finally, Tarling offers comment on the 'new nationalisms' that authoritarianism has helped to provoke, and their prospects, as well as those of the nation-states, in the current phase of globalisation."--Jacket.