Primitive accumulation and ‘progress’ in Southeast Asia: the diverse legacies of a common(s) tragedy

More than any other scholar, James C. Scott has drawn attention to the significance of what Marx termed ‘primitive accumulation’ in the historical transformation of the societies of Southeast Asia. Taking Scott's work as its point of departure, this article sketches the broad contours of primitive accumulation across the region from the mid-nineteenth century up through the early twentieth century. The article shows how primitive accumulation unfolded in different ways in different parts of Southeast Asia and suggests how the different modalities of primitive accumulation have continued to shape the trajectories and parameters of politics across the region to this day

Southeast Asian Studies at the LSE: historical legacies, enduring structures, new directions

The LSE’s Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre has a distinctive role to play as a hub and host for Southeast Asian Studies in London, the UK, Europe, and beyond writes SEAC Director, Professor John T. Side

Jim Scott in memoriam, Southeast Asian studies in perpetuum

Scott’s scholarship “has provided not only a shared point of reference but also a guiding spirit which has helped to sustain and to structure, however loosely, a more collective sense of identity among Southeast Asianists as a community”, writes John T. Sidel

John T. Sidel: what are the challenges faced by urban transport in the Global South?

What are the challenges faced by urban transport of the densely populated metropoles of the Global South in the face of COVID-19? In this blog, John T. Sidel (LSE) discusses the case of the Philippines

Primitive accumulation and ‘progress’ in Southeast Asia: the diverse legacies of a common(s) tragedy

More than any other scholar, James C. Scott has drawn attention to the significance of what Marx termed ‘primitive accumulation’ in the historical transformation of the societies of Southeast Asia. Taking Scott's work as its point of departure, this article sketches the broad contours of primitive accumulation across the region from the mid-nineteenth century up through the early twentieth century. The article shows how primitive accumulation unfolded in different ways in different parts of Southeast Asia and suggests how the different modalities of primitive accumulation have continued to shape the trajectories and parameters of politics across the region to this day

The sovereign trickster: death and laughter in the age of Duterte

The Sovereign Trickster: Death and Laughter in the Age of Duterte. By Vicente L. Rafael. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2022. xi, 173 pp. ISBN: 9781478015185

Rethinking sovereignty and stateness in Southeast Asia: a comparative historical perspective

This article reflects on the treatment of sovereignty and stateness in South Asia provided by other authors in this special section of the issue in terms of their implications for the study of Southeast Asian history. The article identifies a number of commonalities between the treatment of sovereignty and stateness in South Asia provided in the special section and that found in revisionist scholarship on Southeast Asia over the past few decades

Siam and its Twin?: Democratization and Bossism in Contemporary Thailand and the Philippines

Summary Any understanding of corruption in Thailand and the Philippines must rest upon a broader analysis of the phenomenon of ‘bossism’ in numerous localities in these two countries. The common manifestations of bossism ? local powerbrokers' exercise of effective monopolies over coercive and economic resources within defined bailiwicks ? reflect the subordination of the apparatus of the state to elected officials rather than any shared features of society in Thailand and the Philippines. The peculiar variations of bossism found in these two countries are linked to distinct patterns and phasing of state formation. Democratization since the mid?1980s has stimulated the re?emergence and strengthening of ‘bossism’ in both countries