Encyclopaedia of Democracy, Power and Politics of Southeast Asia

In modern times almost all the countries of Southeast Asia have shared the common status of colonial or dependent territories, and during this period the region has been exposed more than ever before to the influences of the outside world, a world that was itself changing rapidly. In the Southeast Asian colonies the European powers, though without a common policy and without co- ordination, have had to attempt to solve common problems of political administration and economic development, and, in