Based in Bangkok, the Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC) is a member of the network of research centres of the French Foreign Ministry. IRASEC is calling on specialists from all academic fields to study the important social, political, economical and environemental developments that affect, together or separately, the eleven countries of the region (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste and Vietnam).
Knowing and understanding
Southeast Asia is a land of diversity where Buddhism, Islam and Christianity coexist, as do parliamentary democracies and authoritarian regimes, and newly industrialized nations and low-income countries. For all their differences, though, the eleven states have come to share a will to build a common identity through representative regional institutions, such as ASEAN.
Given this multifarious context, IRASEC is promoting a variety of approaches by calling on specialists from all academic fields and teaming them up according to requirements. Comparative approaches and transversal studies are favoured as much as possible. The institute endeavours to view and present each theme in its true historical and geographic dimensions, going transnational whenever necessary.
Promoting knowledge and understanding
IRASEC research output consists of highly scientific synthetic works whose accessibility should not be restricted to specialists alone.
In particular, the institute stresses the quality presentation and didactic features of the books it offers to the public. It has developed with a variety of partners a dynamic editorial policy through a number of series.
Study facilities
Beyond its own programmes, IRASEC offers research facilities for students and academics, putting at their disposal the 2,000 works or so on contemporary Southeast Asia of its documentation centre.
