Southern Thailand: from conflict to negotiations?

Summary: In this Analysis, University of Leeds professor Duncan McCargo argues that the recent Malaysian-backed Southern Thai peace initiative has now run into some serious problems. He argues that despite its various shortcomings the initiative is still worthy of support, since it has gained far more traction that any previous attempts to address the decade-long insurgency. Thailand needs to maintain focus on the southern conflict despite its current preoccupation with a national-level political crisis that threatens to topple the government of Yingluck Shinawatra. Key findings The conflict in Southern Thailand is one of Asia’s most serious insurgencies, with over 6,000 dead over the last 10 years. The Malaysian government sponsored negotiations represents the best hope for reaching a political settlement and bringing peace to the region. However, both sides need to show greater commitment to the negotiations, introducing new structures and procedures

Against Wishful Scholarship: The Importance of Engel

David Engel\u27s Article on global consciousness\u27 crystallizes a set of arguments he recently made in a number of publications, most notably in his coauthored book Tort, Custom, and Karma.2 To me, the main point of his argument is by no means limited to questions of law or globalism. Rather, he argues against the dominant mode of writing among scholars across a wide range of social science and related disciplines-a mode of writing that might best be termed wishful scholarship. In wishful scholarship, the starting point of the author is the world as she or he wishes to see it, or wishes to see it become

Alternative Meanings of Political Reform in Contemporary Thailand

This article argues that constitutionalism is a 'disease' that afflicts Thailand's body politic, reflecting intense contestation among rival elite power-holders. The recent debates concerning political reform in Thailand (which culminated in the promulgation of the 1997 constitution) illustrate this contestation vividly. The vague, positive-sounding term 'political reform' actually means many different things to different people: it is a highly contested concept which has been used to legitimate a variety of political agendas, ranging from progressive ideas, to deeply conservative and even anti-democratic sentiments. The resulting constitution is an excessively long and deeply unsatisfactory document. Nevertheless, it may contain certain details that offer opportunities for the future opening-up of greater political space

All About China?:(Mis)Reading Domestic Politics through a Great Power Lens

Combining international relations and critical geopolitics literature with a public opinion survey in Thailand that delves into some rarely explored and sensitive questions to understand respondents’ political views and attitudes, we examine the extent to which domestic political developments can be understood through a US–China great power lens. Are politically progressive Thais more likely to be pro-US, and more politically conservative Thais likely to favor China? While we find some relationship between liberal domestic political leanings and sympathy for the United States, we also show that conservative domestic political leanings do not automatically translate into support for China. To view election outcomes in a country such as Thailand as “wins” for one or other great power would be highly misleading

Branding Dissent: Nitirat, Thailand’s Enlightened Jurists

This article examines the political role of a group of academic lawyers based at Thammasat University who have been seeking to reform various aspects of the Thai legal and judicial system. The seven-member group started out by criticising the illegality of the 2006 coup. After the 2010 crackdown against redshirt protestors, the group named itself Nitirat and started to hold seminars, draft legal proposals, and campaign to amend various laws. Nitirat has repeatedly challenged the legal and constitutional underpinnings of three key elements of the Thai state: the judiciary, the military, and the monarchy. In doing so, the group has gained a mass following, drawn mainly from those sympathetic to the “redshirt” movement which broadly supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Informally led by scholar Worajet Pakeerat, Nitirat has created a popular branding which is reflected in huge audiences for public events, and the sales of souvenirs. The article aims to answer the following questions: How does Nitirat combine the roles of legal academic and political activist? How does it differ from the traditional mode of Thai public intellectuals? How significant is the Nitirat phenomenon

Democratization and foreign policy in Southeast Asia: the case of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Cambridge Review of International Affairs Vol. 22, Iss. 3, 2009 as published in the CAMBRIDGE REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, 2009, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09557570903104008