Ex Oriente Lux 2024

97 Мусеева Ирада Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет, Восточный факультет CHALLENGES OF BUILDING REGIONALISM IN SOUTH- EAST ASIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XX CENTURY The development of regionalism or regional cooperation in South- east Asia is a complicated process. Most attempts to build regionalism in this area have met with little apparent success so far. The main obstacles to the creation of regional cooperation are territorial conflicts and the conse- quences of the Cold War. Territorial disputes are one of the major causes of failure in the process of building regional cooperation in Southeast Asia. These conflicts are mostly the result of the colonial era when European settlers drew bor- ders to halt the advancement of their rivals that is why the borders were fluid, and after the end of colonialism, after World War II, territorial con- flicts became a significant problem for Southeast Asian countries. The second major obstacle to the creation of regionalism in South- east Asia is conflicts rooted in Cold War alignment. The geopolitical inter- ests of capitalist and communist states during the Cold War focused their attention on the Southeast Asia region. American officials actively pursued the establishment of a series of security arrangements to contain communist expansion according to «domino theory». The USA found post-war allies in Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea, while communism reigned in Cambodia, China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Laos. Moreover, after the Bandung Conference in 1955, the Non-Aligned move- ment was established. Some Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Indonesia, chose not to join any of the blocks. Thus, given the division of regional governments between Ameri- can allies, Soviet followers and NPMA members, regional ambitions, the creation of a regional system in Southeast Asia quickly faded. The Cold War impeded the development of regionalism.