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Conceived in 1950, the Colombo Plan for Co-operative Development in South and Southeast Asia was a unique experiment in foreign relations. Meeting annually across what we now know as the 'Indo-Pacific', talented administrators facilitated foreign aid provision, and promoted development fuelled state-making, internationalism and experimental regionalism across postwar Asia. David Lowe argues that this new setting and dynamic international cast created an unusually productive diplomatic environment of development internationalism. The Colombo Plan did not escape power politics or Cold War divisions. However, it did run according to its own rhythm, and, unlike other experiments, it endured, continuing today in much reduced form.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. A 'miniature United Nations' at Colombo, 1950; 2. Experimental regionalism; 3. Flexibility, with limits; 4. States, sovereignty and story; 5. So much useful work at so small a cost; 6. Projecting the plan; Coda: partial remembering; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
David Lowe is Chair in Contemporary History and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Histories at Deakin University.
Summary
Conceived in 1950, the Colombo Plan was a unique experiment in foreign relations. Meeting annually across what we now know as the 'Indo-Pacific', talented administrators created what David Lowe argues was an unusually productive diplomatic environment of development internationalism, with a legacy that still endures today.
Foreword
Lowe argues that the Colombo plan provided for new, experimental forms of foreign relations during the 1950s and early 1960s.
