How and according to what to define South and Southeast Asia

Abstract

Defining South and Southeast Asia is not an easy task. It is thus no surprise that over time, different authors and organizations drew various borders around these two world regions.

This article briefly discusses their regionalization before presenting several existing definitions of South and Southeast Asia. Lastly, it argues that defining both regions according to membership in two regional organizations - SAARC and ASEAN - is particularly useful, though definitely not perfect.

Keywords

• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• regionalization
• macroregions
• global systems