The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Connecting Histories: Decolonization and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, 1945-1962
Cold War International History Project Series
Connecting Histories draws on newly available archival documentation from both Western and Asian countries to explore decolonization, the Cold War, and the establishment of a new international order in post-World War II Southeast Asia. Major historical forces intersected here—of power, politics, economics, and culture on trajectories East to West, North to South, across the South itself, and along less defined tracks. Especially important democratic-communist competitions sought the loyalties of Southeast Asian nationalists, even as some colonial powers sought to resume their prewar dominance. These intersections are the focus of the contributions to this book, which use new sources and approaches to examine some of the most important historical trajectories of the 20th century in Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, and a number of other countries.
What People are Saying
"Connecting Histories is an important resource on an underexamined subject, namely the intersection in Asia of the East-West struggle and the North-South struggle during the two decades after 1945. An authoritative, consistently illuminating study." –Fredrik Logevall, Cornell University
"The roster of contributors comprises a broad, international cast of top established and younger scholars, and the scope of the book is bold and imaginative. This volume has the potential to be a model volume of the new international history." –Robert McMahon, The Ohio State University
Chapter List
Foreword by Nayan Chanda
Series Preface by James G. Hershberg
Introduction: Connecting Decolonization and the Cold War in Southeast Asia, Christopher Goscha and Christian Ostermann
I. Western Trajectories into Southeast Asia
1. Recasting Vietnam: The Bao Dai Solution and the Making of the Cold War in Southeast Asia, Mark Atwood Lawrence
2. Containment and the Challenge of Nonalignment: The Cold War and U.S. Policy toward Indonesia, 1950–1952, Richard Mason
3. Avoiding the "Rank of Denmark": Dutch Fears about Loss of Empire in Southeast Asia, Anne L. Foster
4. Processing Decolonization: British Strategic Analysis of Intelligence on Vietnam and Indonesia, 1945–1950, Martin Thomas
II. Internationalist Communist Intersections in the Region
5. Soviet Cold War Strategy and Prospects of Revolution in Southeast Asia, Ilya V. Gaiduk
6. Revolution and Decolonization: The "Bandung Discourse" in China's Early Cold War Experience, Chen Jian
7. From Cheering to Volunteering: Vietnamese Communists and the Coming of the Cold War, 1940–1951, Tuong Vu
III. Southeast Asian Alignment and Non-Alignment
8. Choosing between the Two Vietnams: 1950 and Southeast Asian Shifts in the International System, Christopher E. Goscha
9. Indonesia's Diplomatic Revolution: Lining Up for Non-Alignment, 1945–1955, Samuel E. Crowl
10. Malaysia and the Cold War: First Indochina War and Malaya, 1948–1957, Danny Wong Tze Ken
11. Phibun, the Cold War, and Thailand's Foreign Policy Revolution of 1950, Daniel Fineman
12. Southeast Asian Perceptions of the Domino Theory, Ang Cheng Guan
IV. Cultural Connections: Religion, Society, and Civilization
13. Ludu Aung Than: Nu's Burma during the Cold War, Michael W. Charney
14. Lawan dan kawan (Friends and Foes): Indonesian Islam and Communism in the Cold War (1945–1960), Rémy Madinier
15. The Diplomacy of Personalism: Civilization, Culture, and the Cold War in the Foreign Policy of Ngo Dinh Diem, Edward Miller
Bibliography
Contributors