(DOWNLOAD) "Transforming the Strategic Landscape of Southeast Asia." by Contemporary Southeast Asia " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Transforming the Strategic Landscape of Southeast Asia.
- Author : Contemporary Southeast Asia
- Release Date : January 01, 2005
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 272 KB
Description
Introduction For too long, the study of Southeast Asian arms acquisitions has been asking the wrong question--whether or not there is a regional arms race. The typical regional answer, whether from policy-makers or analysts, has been a resounding no, that what has been taking place is force modernization, which suggests an essentially natural process by which states acquire military capabilities and upgrade them regularly through a natural process of obsolescence and replacement. There is some truth to this answer. Most of the armed forces of Southeast Asian states have been configured to meet internal security challenges that have, for some, only recently receded into insignificance; whereas for other Southeast Asian states, internal security challenges remain the predominant security concern for their armed forces. As such, by the standards of conventional warfare requirements, virtually all Southeast Asian armed forces have been weak and under-equipped. Inasmuch as internal security challenges have receded, the region's armed forces have had to undergo a process of reconfiguration and restructuring to take on new conventional military capabilities. To a large extent, therefore, the proliferation of conventional weapons in Southeast Asia has reflected these two needs--building up their material capabilities from very low levels, and re-configuring the respective armed forces from counter-insurgency (COIN) to conventional postures.