This detailed study throws light on the evolution of British policy in South-east Asia in the turbulent post-war period. Through extensive archival research and insightful analysis of the British mindset and official policy, Tarling demonstrates that South-east Asia was perceived as a region consisting of mutually co-operating new states, rather than a fragmented mass. The book covers the immediate post-war period until the Colombo plan and the outbreak of hostilities in Korea. A companion volume to Tarling's Britain, Southeast Asia and the Onset of the Pacific War, it finds parallels between Britain's approach to the threat of Japan and its approach to the threat of communism. It also shows that the British sought to shape US involvement, in part by involving other Commonwealth countries, especially India. This is a major contribution to the diplomatic and political history of South-east Asia.

"...offers much raw material for the scholar of the modern Western presence in South-East Asia..." Matthew Jones, The International History Review

"...an important book for understanding the nature of decolonization and its effect on later developments in one of the world's crucial areas." Albion

"an impressive piece of research and an invaluable syudy of a crucial period in the history of post- 1945 Southeast Asia. It can be recommended to all those interested in the modern history of the region, the history of British policy in this period, or the history of the Cold War in Southeast Asia." H-NET Reviews