Emerging Geopolitical Trends and Security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the People's Republic of China, and India (ACI) Region

The rapid economic growth in the region consisting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the People's Republic of China (PRC), and India has begun to change the strategic landscape of the world. The accretion of military power that inevitably followed the region's economic growth is altering the balance of power within the region and between Asia and the West. This background paper outlines the geopolitical trends in a region that has become the center stage of international politics in the 21st century. It begins with a review of the idea of Asia in the 20th century and identifies the inherited political legacy of Asia in the middle of the 20th century. The paper then provides an assessment of the region's unfolding geopolitical transformation in recent years and asks if the regional structures in Asia can cope with it. The paper also explores the problems of integrating the two rising Asian powers, the PRC and India, into the structures of global governance. It concludes with a brief discussion on the strategic policy imperatives facing the ACI region

Pedagogical Entanglements and the Cold War : A Comparative Study on Opening History Lessons on the Cold War in Sweden and Switzerland

Thorp uses the case studies of two classrooms, one Swiss, one Swedish, exploring different pedagogical approaches to the Cold War and addressing the challenges posed to teachers of history in general. There is, he argues, a tension inherent in history that arises because history is both fixed yet also contingent upon who relates it. In this chapter, Thorp examines the degree to which the two teachers in his case study operate within this contingency. Thorp’s model of the narratological uses of history allows him to formulate a pedagogical approach which prioritises critical enquiry and the awareness of historical consciousness. Teaching the Cold War particularly reinforces this conclusion, because the topic can be addressed from radically different perspectives