Introduction: The Dynamic Region of Southeast Asia

Abstract

Southeast Asia is one of the most dynamic regions in the world given its political, cultural, and economic diversity. Part of its emergence as a region is due to the role of its regional organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and ASEAN’s guiding principle: the ASEAN Way. As the 11 countries of Southeast Asia (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam) have become increasingly interconnected economically and politically, the workforces of these countries have also become interconnected. A collective vision for human resource development (HRD) at the regional level (i.e., Regional HRD) is emerging with ASEAN playing a key role. Surrounding and influencing this vision is an evolving and sophisticated Regional HRD ecosystem made up of macro dimensional components such as government policy, meso dimensional components such as professional networks, and micro dimensional components such as individual workers. While these three dimensions make up the content dimensions of the ecosystem, there are also process dimensions that include emergence, convergence, divergence, and adaptation. This chapter introduces the region of Southeast Asia and ASEAN, discusses the concept of Regional HRD, and presents an ecosystems perspective of Regional HRD in Southeast Asia.