Issue 2 Oct. 2002

Mainstream Development— The Mekong

Plans to make the Mekong navigable to bigger boats by blasting rapids and shoals threaten to end a way of life for thousands of villagers. The sky rumbles in the distance and cold wind blasts […]

Issue 2 Oct. 2002

Chao Phya: A River Fraught with Danger

Sunisa Soomprasert and Nattaya Binuma are not relatives. In fact, they have never met and live 170 kilometres apart. Still, the two women share a lifeline of sorts, having been born and raised on the […]

Issue 2 Oct. 2002

On the Politics of Nature Conservation in Thailand

         Conflict in late twentieth century Thailand among state agencies, local people, urban conservationists, and community-rights NGOs over the issue of protected areas and people is strikingly complex and multi-faceted. The conflict has culminated in […]

Issue 1 Mar. 2002

Provincializing Thai Politics

Corruption and Democracy in Thailand Pasuk Phongpaichit and Sungsidh Piriyarangsan Chiang Mai / Silkworm Books / 1994  Money and Power in Provincial Thailand Edited by Ruth McVey Honolulu / University of Hawaii Press / 2000 […]

Issue 1 Mar. 2002

The Voice of the Poor

Having read newspaper reports and watched TV news programs about a recent seminar on poverty alleviation strategies organized by the Thailand Research Development Institute (TDRI), as well as having heard Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra discuss […]

Issue 1 Mar. 2002

On the Horns of a Dilemma

Thai public intellectuals don’t seem to love and care for the people much these days. They facilely compare the Thais to chicken (I’m still puzzled why Thai people are compared to “chicken in the basket” […]

Issue 1 Mar. 2002

Thaksinomics and Liquor

Dr. Kasian Tejapera calls the economic policy of the current government “Thaksinomics.” This means, in essence, that the government bestows patronage on its affiliated crony capitalist groups on the one hand and garners support from […]