Publication

This publication looks at the San Francisco system – the US regional alliance network that includes formal bilateral defense treaties with Thailand and the Philippines, the ANZUS defense pact with Australia and New Zealand, and America’s growing strategic partnerships with other Southeast Asian states. The text’s author provides an assessment of how the San Francisco system southern flank matters in contemporary US strategic policy by outlining 1) its post-Cold War environment and developments; 2) the continuities and changes in how the Obama and Trump administrations have managed the Southeast Asian component of America’s security network; 3) recent developments in the Philippines, Thailand and other ‘security partner’ countries.