Military Relations Between The U.S. And Southeast Asian Countries From The Perspective Of The Alliance Theory

Alliance is one of the cores issues in international politics and international relations. Since the establishment of multi-country world system, the history of international relations has witnessed alliances and anti-alliances among many countries. In view of the alliance theory that is developed from realism, liberalism and constructionist theory, the thesis gives a study of military relations between Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. but with its emphasis falling on the formation, management and development of alliances between them.The formation of alliance is a key component in alliance theory. During the period of the Cold War, the military relations between Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. were deeply influenced by the American global strategy of containing communism. Philippine and Thailand allied with U.S., whilst Singapore and others maintained a close relationship with U.S. All of these countries relied on the U.S. to provide military protection, capitals, technologies, and markets. After the Cold War, the military relations between Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. underwent a transition, which was further reinforced after 911. The Southeast Asian countries generally followed U.S. but they adopted different policies at different stages. It was attributed to many reasons. First, they had to react to the threat. Even though the threat took a different form, alliance was still the main theme. Second, they had to balance between the interests. During the Cold War, the Southeast Asian countries followed America for the security interests. However, after the Cold War, the interests became varied and complex. Other than security interests, there have existed economic interests, political interests and strategic interests. Third, in order to weaken the political opponents and ensure the survival and legitimacy of the governments, the ruling elites had to ally with the U.S. to maintain its authority. Lastly, seen from the paradigms and mutual understanding, the Southeast Asian countries have a positive understanding of the U.S. They have achieved a consensus that U.S. is not only a positive super-power but its military presence in the Southeast Asia, which can balance and stabilize the power relations in the region, is indispensable to the regional security. Under the influence of the U.S., the Southeast Asian allies have achieved consensuses and established social, cultural and economic paradigms. The management and development of alliance are also the key components in the alliance theory. In order to achieve the greatest effects and enable every country to benefit from alliance, the U.S and its Southeast Asian allies strengthen their capabilities and safeguard their common interests by all means. At present, the still changing and evolving military relations between Southeast Asian countries and the U.S. have made impacts on the security in the Pacific area. In the future, the military relations between the U.S. and Southeast Asian countries will continue play a significant role in the security in the Asian-Pacific area.