Bandaranaike International Diplomatic Training Institute

The preface of Acharya’s book underscores the principal assumption driving his argument: that regions are socially constructed. In other words, the policymaking elite’s desire for a Southeast Asian regional identity coupled with “intraregional patterns of interaction, play a crucial role in the making of Southeast Asia as a region” (p. xi). The book builds on the first edition published by Oxford University Press under the title The Quest for Identity: International Relations of Southeast Asia in 2000 . The second edition contains two new chapters, one of which (chapter 2) draws upon secondary (historical and anthropological) literature and the second (chapter 8) explores several non-traditional security threats facing the region. To complement this lengthy text, Acharya also adds an interesting collection of historical pictures interspaced in different sections of the book. This brings the book to a hefty 410 pages divided into nine chapters.  The book begins by addressing the el...

Introduction Medical tourism is defined as ‘travelling across international borders to receive some kind of medical treatment such as dental care, cosmetic procedures, elective surgical care, fertility treatments, etc. (Kelly, 2013). The Medical Tourism Association describes it as people living in one country travelling to another country to access better quality medical, dental and surgical care than they are receiving in their own country (Medical Tourism Association, 2014). The terms “medical tourism’ and ‘health tourism’ are used interchangeably in works of literature (Munro,2012). The term ‘health tourism’ has a broader concept than the term ‘medical tourism’, as it covers the three related domains are known as Medical tourism, Healthcare tourism and Wellness tourism (Chen et al., 2012). The quality and cost of medical care, personal preferences (Personal experiences, Income, etc.) as well as the technological, economic, political,        soc...