Integration in Southeast Asia: Trajectories of Inclusion, Dynamics of Exclusion (SEATIDE)

Launched on 1st December 2012 at the EFEO Centre in Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai University (Thailand), the European project "Integration in Southeast Asia: Trajectories of Inclusion, Dynamics of Exclusion" (SEATIDE), came to a close on 31st March 2016. 

Drawn up by a group of five European and four Southeast Asian institutions, this research project was coordinated by Yves Goudineau (yves.goudineau@efeo.net) and Andrew Hardy (hardyvn25@yahoo.com) on the scientific level and administrated by Elisabeth Lacroix (ideas.lacroix@gmail.com) A dedicated website is available at www.seatide.eu

Structured around four thematic work packages, SEATIDE took national and transnational perspectives on the following issues:

National and transnational identities

The University of Hamburg (UHAM) and the Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), in collaboration with the University of Tallinn (TU), examined whether and to what extent national integration can cope with regional diversity. The costs/benefits of nation-building were analysed in the context of economic development, national culture, religion, citizenship rights, centralization processes, and competing nationalisms.

National and transnational circulation of people and goods

The University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB) and the Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) will study voluntary and involuntary movements of people in SEA, notably cross border circulation, rural-urban migration, intra-national and transnational labour migration, to assess their impact on the lives of individuals and groups. A gender perspective is fundamental to this set of studies.

National and transnational exchange of information

The University of Cambridge (CHE) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) analysed the knowledge networks and interaction sites that connect and constitute this diverse region, and its links with the wider world. Specific attention was given to the past and present role of Europe in these knowledge systems.

National and transnational political integration and the role of ASEAN

Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) evaluated political framework development at national and regional levels in SEA, including analysis of historical and contemporary crises that have given rise to new integrative structures and the cultural formations that distinguish the "ASEAN Way" from EU-style integration.

Project results are available on the project webiste (www.seatide.eu): the organization of conferences, publications, press coverage, and policy briefs.

The project Final Report can be downloaded here.