Elusive Balances: Shaping U.S.-Southeast Asia Strategy

This book undertakes an in-depth examination of the dynamics of commitment in U.S.-Southeast Asia strategy. Drawing on cases including the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and Washington’s pivot to Asia amid China’s growing regional role, it constructs an original balance of commitment model to explain continuity and change in U.S.-Southeast Asia policy. Balance of commitment goes beyond balance of power approaches to explains how translating Southeast Asia’s importance in U.S. thinking into actual commitments has proven challenging for policymakers as it requires simultaneously calibrating adjustments to power shifts, threat perceptions and resource extraction. 

The book applies the balance of commitment approach to several practical case studies, based on hundreds of conversations with policymakers and experts in the United States and Southeast Asia, personal experiences across nearly two decades and primary and secondary source material across a half-century. The findings suggest that the challenges of U.S. commitment to the region are rooted not simply in differences between administrations or divergences in outlook between Washington and regional capitals, but tough balancing acts for U.S. policymakers in domestic politics and wider foreign policy. As such, shaping U.S. strategy in Southeast Asia and calibrating and sustaining commitment requires not just appreciating Southeast Asia’s significance, but committing to the region in ways that manage structural aspects of U.S. thinking, capabilities and resourcing.

Dr. Prashanth Parameswaran is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and founder of the weekly ASEAN Wonk newsletter on Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific geopolitics and geoeconomics. Born and raised in Southeast Asia, he is also a senior columnist at The Diplomat, an advisor at the strategic consultancy BowerGroupAsia, a fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Security, and an instructor for regional courses at the State Department and Pentagon. 

Dr. Parameswaran has spent nearly two decades working with businesses, think tanks, governments, and universities in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, including early stints with Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Agence France-Presse news wire service agency in Thailand, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. He has conducted extensive field research across the Indo-Pacific region, including all 11 countries in Southeast Asia, publishing over 2,000 articles and commentaries in international outlets such as CNN, The Straits Times, Nikkei Asia, South China Morning Post, and Foreign Policy on topics including major power competition, maritime security, economic statecraft, regional institutional development, military modernization, and foreign policy strategy.

Dr. Parameswaran is the author of two books: Mandalas of Multialignment: Hedging Bets in Southeast Asia Grand Strategy Spheres, Foreign and Security Policy Webs, and Global Geopolitics and Geoeconomics (2026) and Elusive Balances: Shaping US-Southeast Asia Strategy (2022). He holds a PhD and an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a BA with highest honors from the University of Virginia.