This book provides an original account of how the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) has responded to potential violations of its
members’ sovereignty over the past 50 years. Drawing on rarely analysed
documents – including declassified government cables and reports, WikiLeaks
cables, and state correspondence to the United Nations – and examining in
detail four key cases, it provides a compelling account of why states act as
they do in the face of potential sovereignty violation. By showing how state agency, regional
interests and external powers are all factors in the ability to resist
sovereignty violation, the author develops the ‘vanguard state theory’, which,
it is argued, has universal applicability and explanatory power
