An approach in terms of political economy of development, allows to focus specifically on the question of the future of the peasantry in sustainable rural development. It offers among others to recognize the peasant world as a set of specific actors capable of reflection and initiatives, and not only as stereotypes of backward non actors. It seems important to look at the realities of the peasant world in Southeast Asia in the perspective of a reflection on the place of the peasantry in the search for a sustainable rural development strategy. That the latter will remain obviously a major component of a sustainable development for all societies in the region, is the thread of the sections proposed belo