The concept of 'Asian Values' has recently been emphasized by East and South East Asian political leaders. These leaders have argued that European political values have exercised an unhealthy hegemony over the international system, not only because of global influence exercised by European ideas during the colonial period, but because of 'Anglo-Saxon' dominance over the world orders that were set up in the aftermath of both the First and Second World Wars.

This book considers the interaction between indigenous ('Asian') values and European ideology and the influence this relationship had on the nationalist and revolutionary movements of Southeast Asia that dominated the political systems of Southeast Asia in the period 1945-1975.