#PHISO2022 Exploratory Workshop: “Where is Southeast Asia in International Relations?”

Southeast Asia is home to a vast range of political systems, regime types, historical pathways, social identities and conflicts, and religious and ideological trends, making it one of the world’s most politically diverse regions. With the complex developments and growing internal challenges in the region, Southeast Asia has become a significant region of study. 

Southeast Asia remains at the periphery of International Relations (IR) theory and practice, albeit the burgeoning decolonial calls and contributions to epistemologically focus on the region’s agency, diverse cultures, history, and colonial legacies. These shifts have been mirrored by new scholarly paths, with Southeast Asia serving as a theoretical underpinning for the growth of non-Western views and perspectives to IR. However, despite the critical and pivotal developments in the region’s economy, security, natural environment, governance, human rights, public health, etc., Southeast Asia is still secondary in importance relative to Great Powers and other global regions. 

This workshop, titled “Where is Southeast Asia in International Relations?”, organized by the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO), probes to locate Southeast Asia within contemporary IR discourses. It invites interconnections and multidisciplinary contributions from scholars and practitioners to provide a comprehensive approach to the study of IR in the Southeast Asian region, in view of the rise of non-Western IR. 

PHISO welcomes submissions that explore the intersections of IR with other disciplines in the study of Southeast Asia, particularly ruminating over how Southeast Asian studies can decolonize IR theory and practice. What are the implications of these intersections to IR pedagogy and research? We also welcome papers that delve into specific intra- and inter-regional issues unconfined within a nation-state-centric view. What new horizons open from alternative viewpoints? How can these non-state-centric visions inform policy and promote greater social justice in Southeast Asia and beyond?

For details, click here.