ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations) has made slow progress in defining a regional policy for the protection of migrant workers.

This book examines the normative structures within the institutions at play at both state and regional level of ASEAN, which influence the making of a migrant workers protection policy.The author puts forward a novel alternative policy analysis tool - the Two Level State and Regional Analysis - that enables satisfactory explanation for policy making cases, whereby normative institutional structures are involved and social policies are...

Indonesia is the largest archipelago state in the world comprising 17,480 islands, with a maritime territory measuring close to 6 million square kilometres. It is located between the two key shipping routes of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Indonesia s cooperation in maritime security initiatives is vitally important because half of the world s trading goods and oil pass through Indonesian waters, including the Straits of Malacca, the Strait of Sunda and the Strait of Lombok.

This book analyses Indonesia s participation in international maritime security cooperation. Using...

The making of modern Thailand is grounded in specific political institutions, Brahmanical tropes, and sacred Buddhist traditions stylized with Hindu rituals. Over and above these mysterious practices and ancient customs, modern Thailand is a product of the late Great Rama IX Bhumibol Adulyadej. Most Thai people have only known one King. Born in Europe and educated during World War II, Bhumibol was the son of a Harvard medical doctor who had a penchant for jazz music and fast cars. When he returned to Thailand in 1951 to assume his royal duties, he could hardly speak Thai but his French and...