An excellent and amazingly detailed historical account of ASEAN’s first fifty years. The book benefits enormously from Weatherbee’s long personal history as a scholar of ASEAN and an unusually well-connected academic who can draw on his experiences working in Southeast Asia to provide personal connections and insights to many of the events he describes. . . . The book stands as a relatively brief yet surprisingly comprehensive overview. . . . An excellent reference for any scholar of ASEAN who wants all of the major historical developments of the organization documented in one book. Not only is it timely, the book also offers a strong perspective that allows for considerable debate and engagement.

Contemporary Southeast Asia

Don Weatherbee is a renowned analyst of Southeast Asian politics, and his latest book, ASEAN's Half Century,furtherburnishes his already splendid reputation. Weatherbee analyzes both the intramural dynamics of the ASEAN region and its complicated relations with the great powers. Highly recommended.

Sheldon Simon, Arizona State University

Veteran Southeast Asian expert Don Weatherbee has produced an empirically rich, analytically insightful assessment of ASEAN’s first fifty years. It provides a clear-eyed accounting of the association’s past achievements and future challenges that will be required reading for anyone interested in ASEAN.

Ann Marie Murphy, Seton Hall University

Written by one of the preeminent authorities on Southeast Asian affairs, ASEAN’s Half Century represents perhaps the most comprehensive and clearly presented account of that organization’s politico-security evolution and challenges. Weatherbee pinpoints and analyzes in great depth key benchmarks for ASEAN’s ‘reinvention’ or adaptivity at critical historical intervals to preserve its politico-strategic relevance in the region, and he documents this process with highly informative case studies. The author advances a sober and highly credible central argument: while this institution's history and durability is commendable, its quest to become a viable regional security community has been clearly frustrated by both intraregional differences and external players’ resistance to genuine ASEAN centrality. After fifty years of existence, ASEAN has now reached a historic crossroads, facing deep-seated—even existential—challenges to its future viability. This is required reading for any observer interested in Southeast Asian politics and, more generally, international security and diplomacy.

William Tow, Australian National University