Regional Organization and National Security

Abstract

The attainment of a reasonable level of security is the first concern of the foreign policy of every country. This does not mean that statesmen normally spend all or even most of their time pondering and acting in relation to the security of their country. Security may at times and on a day-to-day basis be relegated to a relatively unobtrusive position in the hierarchy of foreign policy concerns. In Southeast Asia, however, the issue of security has rarely receded to the background of the minds of the political leaders. For long periods it has been a daily preoccupation of theirs, sometimes to the exclusion of nearly all other business. It has contributed perhaps more than any other single factor to the flavour of international relations in Southeast Asia over the last two decades, and it has strongly influenced the processes of regional cooperation and organisation. In this chapter I shall therefore consider the relationship between considerations of security and participation in regional organisation.