ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides the first crisis-centric monograph about the European Union (EU) as an actor in Southeast Asia and the EU's inter-regional activities. It considers inter-regionalism to be the interaction between regional cooperative arrangements. The trans-regional and inter-regional forms of foreign policy are inherent and natural to the EU, because they legitimize and cement the EU's role as an international actor. The book discusses Non-Traditional Security (NTS) crises that occurred in the tragic year of 1997. This year marked Association of Southeast Asian Nation's (ASEAN) official orientation towards greater intra-regional coordination and integration. The book draws upon the case of the Bali Bombings in 2002 and the avian influenza outbreak of 2003. It delves into the one and only Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) mission to Southeast Asia.
