ABSTRACT

The encroachment of the Cold War and its attendant reductionist logic was to have a profound effect on Asia. The volatility of the Cold War in Asia came about precisely because it was an area where nationalism was on the march and new unstable states were coming into existence. In the aftermath of the Pacific War, the first clear sign that a new Asia was emerging from the ashes of that conflict came in 1947 with the most dramatic act of decolonization yet to take place the end of British rule in India. Britain had hoped that, in the aftermath of the Pacific War, it could use its position as the pre-dominant Power in the region to encourage economic integration in South-East Asia. The stability of South-East Asia therefore became linked to the main priority of the United States, the economic revival of Western Europe.