Great powers and multilateralism: the politics of security architectures in Southeast Asia**

This chapter is organised into three parts. The first offers a brief survey on how multilateral security has been regarded and approached by the Asia-Pacific region’s large powers, particularly in Southeast Asia, and what part they have played in supporting or constraining its development. The second section evaluates what factors may convince the region’s great powers to become genuine architects for building multilateral security politics. The third section concludes with an offering of some general propositions about what will be needed to transform current great power politics - now largely based on national self-interest - into an effective process for order-building in the region.