Coping with Fragmentation
Several Southeast Asian countries are fragmented spatially. For instance, Indonesia is spread across an archipelago that includes 17,000 islands.
- What challenges do the governments of these fragmented countries face in trying to establish a strong centralized power?
- What economic, political, and social challenges arise from this fragmentation?
- How do people whose geographical separation, which is often associated with weak nationalistic ties, develop a sense of commitment to one national government?