… And How We Might Think About Reforms that Could Undermine Their Entrenchment. Elections in the Philippines are a family affair. Family dynasties control the political landscape, fielding candidates at all levels of government. The […]
Rewind to the early days of January 2016 when the famous Cu Rua, or Great-Grandfather Turtle, that had inhabited Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake for decades (some say centuries) passed away. This occurred a week prior […]
As a general rule, scandals ruin political careers. But this rule does not seem to apply to every political figure equally. Political figures who maintain an image of being virtuous, or at least civil or decent, seem […]
It is a hot late afternoon in the Vietnamese highlands, and the sun is beginning to set over the mountains. I have just paid a few dollars to enter Cat Cat Village, one of tourist […]
Something is brewing in the state of Nusantara. Primarily centred in Malaysia and Indonesia, the Malay world often swings between moderation and fundamentalism, with a fierce contest of the interpretation of legalistic Islam. But it […]
Benedict Anderson once remarked in an interview he gave to the journal Philippine Studies that “Southeast Asian universities don’t need to think about ‘area studies’ in any hegemonic sense (Singapore tries to do this, with […]
Thailand, formerly recognised in the old days as Siam, has been generally praised for its successes in astute diplomacy. The conduct of Thai foreign affairs is commonly characterised as ‘bending with the wind policy’, ‘bamboo […]
The festival of the birth of the Prophet in Indonesia begins on the sixth day of the month of Mawlid and ends on the twelfth day. It is one of the most important religious festivals […]
Amidst a wave of recent studies on the global decline of democracy and the concurrent resurgence of authoritarianism (Diamond 2008; Diamond 2015), the Thai case stands out because unlike authoritarian regimes elsewhere, Thailand since May […]
This year saw the premiere of Itumba ang mga Adik (Kill the Addicts) in the Philippines. Shot in streets across the country, from narrow alleys to cramped rooms, the controversial film stars vigilantes, (suspected) drug […]
This article derived from a dissertation entitled “Women’s New Political Space in Thailand: A Case Study of the Red and Yellow Shirt Movements”, which set out to explore the extent of women’s participation in the […]
Indonesia prepares for “war!” The glorious time of the “peace dividend” following the 2005 Aceh conflict settlement seems to be over (Honna 2008). The “enemy” has succeeded in weakening the country’s political, economic and social […]
The Internet led to exciting claims and predictions about how it could change the world, one area of which was in terms of democratisation. Academics in the 1990s predicted that with its decentralized, uncontrolled and […]
Our modern world is often characterized as fluid, in which the flow of capital, the stream of people and the flood of products follow multiple paths to keep the pulse of our modern life beating. […]
This paper sets out to challenge the conventional wisdom that structural factors consist of the China threat, and that the ongoing South China Sea disputes are the prime factors in the current military build-ups in […]
The Thai national children’s day (wan dek), the local version of the International Day for Protection of Children, is celebrated in Thailand on the second week of January. For the occasion, various government offices, including […]
Thailand’s OTOP (One Tambon One Product) project was initiated in 2001 in line with the government’s policy for encouraging economic growth in local communities. Since farmers and other agriculturalists in rural areas basically rely on […]
On 29 January 2016, the Constitution-drafting committee presided by Meechai Reechupan issued the official draft of a new constitution. This draft is the third since the 2014 coup took place on 22 May 2014. The […]
Approaching the three decades anniversary of the introduction of the Doi Moi reforms, Vietnam is often presented as a poster-child of economic development. Vietnam’s successes like poverty alleviation and one of the highest growth rates […]
This article is to set a broad proposition about examining the Sino-Thai relations through cultural linguistic aspects. In this regard, today it is common to hear leaders from China and Thailand frequently express their close […]
“We want to use the EITI to ensure that these resources (Myanmar’s petroleum resources wealth) are developed and managed in a transparent manner for the sustainable benefit of our people”.President Thein Sein of Myanmar, speaking […]
The Fukushima nuclear disaster demonstrated the magnitude of devastation when energy security is prioritized over human security. No doubt, the task of balancing the two needs is immense and difficult trade-offs need to be made […]
Since the National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) has taken control of the Thai administration, criticism of its handling of the economy has been widespread. While critics have focused on the junta’s lack of […]
The Philippines is one of the poster boys for democracy’s disintegration in Southeast Asia. Current President Noynoy Aquino’s successive blunders, from pork barrel scandals to the Mamasapano incident, are the latest episodes in the story […]
In May 2014, a video clip of an illegal Myanmarese immigrant singing the Thai national anthem with native-like proficiency at the order of the Thai police went viral, becoming an ironic spectacle for Thai citizens, […]
It is a strange irony that in Thailand a small group of people can take over the country at gun point, yet no one can turn round and tell them to f*ck off without somehow […]
Since the BRICS summit in July 2014 in Brazil, when five developing member countries announced the establishment of the New Development Bank (NDB), there has been widespread media coverage on regional connectivity. One major step […]
On January 26, 2015, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Daniel R. Russel, delivered a speech at Chulalongkorn University, urging the end of martial law throughout the country and the […]
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