Southeast Asia. Negotiating governance on non-traditional security in Southeast Asia and beyond [Book Review]

Abstract

One of the dangers books and scholarly publications in International Relations face is that of being overtaken by the reality of events. This is certainly not the case with Mely Caballero-Anthony’s book, Negotiating governance on non-traditional security in Southeast Asia and beyond, which despite being published more than two years before Covid-19 shook the foundations of the international system, seems to greatly anticipate current debates and reflections about what security is, and how in such a dynamic, interdependent and complex world to address a plethora of non-traditional security threats (NTS), which are no longer ‘limited to the balance of power politics’ (p. 15), and which are proving to be extremely severe, the effects of which can be effectively managed only through common effort.