The first East Asia Summit: potential challenges to greater regional cooperation

Six months, 13 116 words … and as of this afternoon, it’s all over.

Today has been an insane day — frantic panic to finalise my referencing, followed by a minor crisis when printing, then an awesome afternoon at the End of Semester Show, and the first fun night out I’ve had in ages.

I am now going to sleep. A lot. If you’re trying to contact me, don’t expect a prompt response

Of late, many people have asked me how my thesis is going, and my standard answer has been “behind schedule, but under control. I feel, however, that impending doom is not far away”.

But thanks (or curses?) to Bernard, I now have confirmation that horror is upon me, in big red letters! I think this has tipped me over the edge and into the land of “completely terrified” …

The Thesis Countdown Timer (for UWA engineers and politics students)

In slightly happier news … I finally have a topic for this year! Quoth my dissertation topic statement proposal thing:

After the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005, leaders of the ten ASEAN member states met with six other regional leaders in the first East Asia Summit … Some commentators have hailed the new institution as a dramatic step forward for the region, but others fear it will amount to no more than a talk-fest.

I will be writing about the “challenges it faces as an organisation seeking regional cooperation and unity” — in other words, will the damn thing actually achieve anything?