For two decades, diplomats, security specialists, journalists, business people, professionals, and other readers, both in Southeast Asia and outside the region, have relied on ISEAS' annual Regional Outlook: Southeast Asia. They have come to value its timely and well-informed appraisals of the trends, figures, and developments likely to have the greatest impact in the near-term future.

While featuring a fresh new cover design, this twentieth edition of Regional Outlook carries on the tradition of previous editions of the book. It offers a unique resource to readers who require rigorous understanding of leading trends in Southeast Asia. Its coverage includes both insight- rich sections on the political and economic outlooks for each of the ten Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states and a number of specially commissioned thematic sections. Topics treated in those thematic sections include ongoing regional initiatives on the South China Sea, the increasing integration of the Greater Mekong Sub-region with China, the implications of the inclusion of the United States in the East Asia Summit, levels of trust in state institutions among Southeast Asians, food security in Timor-Leste, the significance of second tier cities in Southeast Asia, APEC's prospects during this year and the years ahead, “smart cities” in Southeast Asia, challenges for the Malaysian economy and the New Economic Model, and the contribution of integrated resorts to the Singapore economy.

The book's sections on what lies ahead on the political front for each of the ten members of ASEAN during 2011 and 2012 highlight the importance of the consequences of recent or imminent political transitions in the Philippines, in Myanmar, and in Vietnam. They consider the very different sorts of challenges confronting the governments of Singapore and Thailand as they look towards elections in the near future. Contrasting the confusion that prevails in Malaysian politics with the stability achieved in Brunei, Cambodia, and Laos, they suggest the implications of these countries’ circumstances for developments in the years just ahead.