Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia
James Gomez

Eroding Electoral Integrity: Reasons for Democratic Backsliding in Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asian countries that hold competitive elections, there has been a noticeable erosion of electoral integrity, leading to a regression in democracy since 2010. This has been evidenced by global democracy indexes.[1] In several of these countries, the traditional elites initially either choose to accept or endorse efforts to strengthen competitive multi-party democracy. Multi-party elections were accepted, in some instances, due to the pressure from the international community to promote democracy.[2] In other cases, it was driven by the internal momentum for democratic reforms and the aspirations of their populations.[3] However, when these reforms began to dissipate and threaten their political hegemony, these very elites, who initially supported multiparty elections, began [...]

Previous Issue #39

  • Vietnam and Foreigners: Aspects and Experiences

    Migration and cultural exchange have been lodestones of the civilization and society in ancient, middle-ages, and modern Vietnam. The cradle of civilization of Vietnam in the BCE days would have been located in the northern Red River Delta. Even at the nascent stage of its civilization had, as historian Corsi pointed out, the region witnessed constant cultural exchanges in three directions – between northern migrants from northern Chinese kingdoms and the locals in the Delta, between the mountain tribes to the Delta’s west and northwest and the Delta, and between the Delta and areas south of it, which was known generally as Champa. In short, migration and cultural exchanges for Vietnam has had a long history, which places Vietnam in a general history of migration of the world. At the same time, modern Vietnamese are also known to have a strong national identity and takes immense pride in being unique, and often tries to distinguish itself from the Chinese culture that had influenced it for [...]
  • Dr Kao Kim Hourn, ASEAN Secretary-General, on the Relevance of ASEAN

    Dr Kao Kim Hourn, ASEAN Secretary-General, on the Relevance of ASEAN

    On behalf of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) and as the editor of the Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia, Pavin Chachavalpongpun, professor at CSEAS, interviewed Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, ASEAN’s Secretary-General, on the topic, “Is ASEAN Still Relevant?” The interview was conducted on 19 December 2024 during which time Dr. Kao was invited to give a lecture on the said topic at CSEAS. [...]

Guest Editor’s Introduction – Decha Tangseefa, CSEAS

A border is a “contact zone” of people, culture, and capital. In an area like the Thai-Myanmar border, disease must also be included, as tuberculosis, drug-resistant malaria, and other illnesses have been prevalent since long before COVID-19 raged across the world. These transnational forces entwine and tremendously complicate the spaces in-between the two nation-states. As Burma/Myanmar has witnessed far more protracted armed conflicts than unarmed negotiations since its independence in 1948, this border region has become a space where hundreds of thousands have had to endure manifold sickness due to their marginal positionalities either as displaced peoples or voluntary migrants, many of whom become sources of unskilled or low-skilled cheap labor in Thailand. […]

Tomas Cole

Siu-hei Lai

Busarin Lertchavalitsakul

Vincen Gregory Yu, MD

  • The crime of caring

    What does it mean when your own country does not care about you? Among others, this question swirls in my mind when I recall the places that we visited during the 47th Southeast Asia Seminar. Roaming the vicinity of the new Kawthoolei Karen Baptist Bible School and College just across the stream from the Mae La “temporary shelter area,” I was intrigued by the rustic cadence of the place. En route to the school, [...]

Jeonghyeon Kim

Hattori Ryuji

Miriam Jaehn

Yi-Chin Wu

  • Enriching the land discourse from the Thai-Myanmar Border

    Throughout the 47th Southeast Asia Seminar, participants examined a diverse range of topics from health to border dynamics and marginalization. Amidst the rich discussions, one theme particularly captured my attention: how people residing in borderlands perceive land. [...]

Takahashi Tomoko

  • International relations research and borderland as inhabited space

    Researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines gathered to learn about and discuss the situation in the Thai-Myanmar border region during the 47th Southeast Asia Seminar. Field trips to several locations in Tak Province, Thailand generated ideas about what research can be further pursued by positivist International Relations (IR) studies that address security [...]
Trendsetters

Southeast Asia’s Donald J. Trump: Hun Sen Burns Thaksin Shinawatra to the Ground

by William J. Jones in Issue 40

On May 28, 2025, Cambodian and Thai armed forces clashed briefly along the disputed frontier region of Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani and Cambodia’s Oddar Meancheay Provinces in Chong Bok. The clash resulted in one Cambodian soldier’s death and has resulted in continuous escalations by both sides, including border crossing closures, cutting off electricity and internet, and vegetable trade, and increases in military deployments to the border region. Amid escalations, both sides [...]

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