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This paper examines global and national responses to the challenge of HIV/AIDS for young people. With reference to Thailand and China, the paper also introduces an on-going study into HIV/AIDS at community level in Chiang Mai and Kunming. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees from Burma have been displaced in Thailand for over 20 years, with durable solutions hitherto available to only a small number. Since 2005, however, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN body charged with the protection of refugees, has initiated a resettlement process, partially based on its emphasis on the value of the “strategic use of resettlement,” a concept espoused for its potential to unlock pathways to other improvements for refugees. This paper critically examines UNHCR’s “strategic use of resettlement” as it applies to Burmese refugees in Thailand. Given the fact that not all refugees will resettle, the question remains: strategic for whom? Extensive participatory research with NGOs, CBOs, and refugees at all nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border reveals three populations for whom resettlement remains problematic: first, the remaining camp population finds itself bereft of resources (particularly skilled workers) in the wake of resettlement. Second, non-camp refugees in Thailand (who are not permitted to resettle) now live in a more restrictive environment than they did before the advent of resettlement. Third, internally displaced persons (IDPs) still living in Burma remain particularly vulnerable, both in the pursuit of livelihoods and in resisting the current regime.This paper draws links between the advent of resettlement and these three areas of concern. It demonstrates that resettlement has unintended negative consequences for portions of the non-resettling refugee population. It concludes with a section that discusses the policy and programmatic responses that might seek to alleviate some of these unintended consequences. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of how insurgencies arise, the nature, goals and strategies of insurgent groups, and the relative effectiveness of a state's response to insurgencies are of critical importance. This paper addresses the latter issue—how states can best end insurgencies. Specifically, it asks: Why do some insurgencies end in negotiated settlements while others persist as protracted conflicts? The essay argues that insurgencies are more likely to end in negotiated settlement if civil-military relations within a state are harmonious. Discordant relations between the government and the armed forces are likely to result in a continuation of hostilities between the government and the insurgent groups. To illustrate the argument, the paper examines two insurgencies in Southeast Asia—the ongoing Muslim struggle for independence in Southern Thailand, and the successful peace deal between the government of the Philippines and the Moro-National-Liberation-Front in the southern province of Mindanao in 1996. The paper suggests that the southern Thailand insurgency persists because of the continuing tensions in civil-military relations while the insurgency in Mindanao ended with a peace agreement in 1996 because of the harmonious civil-military relations in the Philippines during the administration of President Fidel Ramos. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National security, securitization and the Thai sex industry: is there a link? I will argue that there is a link between the US/Thai national security, securitization and the Thai sex industry beginning in the 1960s. The paper will analyse Thailand's sex industry; its inception through the R & R contract between the United States and Thailand. Additionally, it will examine how the World Bank influenced and encouraged its continuance, during the 1970s, under the auspices of Thai development policy: tourism. In both instances, the US's foreign policy drove the introduction and further development of the Thai sex industry. Furthermore, as the US rose to become a post-World War 2 superpower, its focus was to fight any additional rise of communism throughout the world. Three decades on, the US still seems intent on further influencing the industry but this time reducing the demand for it. Moreover, this recent US plan still perceives that national security issues are at stake. However, in this instance the US is couching its concern in humanitarian discourse, as anti-prostitution feminist groups lobby the US Congress to recognize prostitution as a human rights violation. Is this move presenting an existential threat to the Thai sex tourism industry and is there any possibility for agency? The feminist groups are the securitizing actors attempting to make prostitution in Thailand a securitization issue. The analytical framework for this paper will draw on both the Copenhagen School's approach to security and securitization and a critical theory perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charles Tilly’s aphorism that Wars make states has provided considerable insight into the development of states in Western Europe. Yet this useful approach has not been applied to other parts of the world This paper reviews the impact of the Second World War, the civil war in China, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the guerrilla wars in Thailand and Malaya to assess the impact of the war on the emergence of the administrative state in East and Southeast Asia. The paper examines the destructive, formative and reformative effects of war on Japan and what have come to be called the Newly Industrialising Economies (NIEs) and the Near NIEs -- South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In particular the paper will take an historical institutional approach and detail directly the impact of the various wars and the preparation for war in the formation of key institutions and the relationship between the institutional state and society in each of these economies. The overall conclusion is that no analysis of the rise of Japan, the NICs and the Near NICs is complete without including the effects of the war on the institutional states that directed these successful economie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December 2008, the number of cases in Thailand Rohingya shocked the international community. Two hundred Rohingya were found at sea located at north to Sumatra in Indonesia and then were rescued by fishermen. Amnesty International confirmed that more than a thousand or more of the Rohingya people were expelled in Thailand, where hundreds of boat people in India and Indonesia were rescued, but more than hundreds of people dead from the Southeast Asian launch of this event a tremendous shock to the world. The Dragon King Operation of 1978 in Burma was an official of inhumanity treatment to Rohingya in Myanmar. Roughly four hundred thousands of the Rohingya people avoiding persecution and fleeing by the government of the Southeast Asian seek various types of shelter. But a large number of refugees in Southeast Asian governments also caused anxiety and became a Southeast Asia regional issues. The issue of expelling the Rohingya in Thailand in 2008 has been taken serious again.. To this end, Thailand and Bangladesh have made the views of regional initiatives, to solve the plight of Rohingya, but still no proposed concrete methods. Rohingya be persecuted a long time, Amnesty International and the International Refugee Department are very concerned about this incident. This paper focuses on the issue of international community after the recent rise in the World War II. The issue of humanitarian intervention and humanitarian in the international community led by Europe and the United States has become important. Despite that, the Rohingyan problem since 1978 has not effectively addressed yet. So I hope that the global civil society point of view, Rohingyans incident, and made the specific practice on the possibility of humanitarian intervention. This article from the Dragon King Operation and the people in Southeast Asia after the Rohingya social problems caused by doing review, followed by the theory of humanitarian intervention and the specific practice of view, and finally the rise of global civil society in recent years, the relevant channels combined, in order to Rohingya will not be repeated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolution of Thailand’s monetary policy in the changing political and economic context. From the 1940s to 1980s, monetary authorities’ commitment to conservative monetarism seen in restrictive monetary and fiscal policy and stable exchange rate was largely supported by their relative autonomy from societal pressures and the endorsement from international financial institutions. The strengthening of the Bank of Thailand during this period, particularly in its relationship with the government and the financial sector, contributed to the institutionalization of conservative monetarism. The changing political context of the 1980s toward more democratization and the global movement toward financial deregulation had very important implications to Thailand monetary policy. The macroeconomic policy tradition, particularly fiscal and monetary restriction and fixed exchange rate regime became increasingly incompatible with the process of financial liberalization. The institutionalization of party politics also contributed to the penetration of sectoral interests into the making of monetary and financial policy. The financial crisis was largely a manifestation of both the incompatibility of the older policy paradigm and the new financial reality, and the politicization of macroeconomic and financial management. The post-crisis era, particularly the Thaksin regime, saw further de-insulation of monetary policy. The adoption of Keynesian expansionary macroeconomic policy to stimulate domestic market by the Thaksin administration reflected continued encroachment of elected politicians in the realm that used to be dominated by state technocrats. It will be argued that despite the attempt of the old establishment to contain the rise of the new political class seen in the coup of 2006, the more open political context, encouraged by Thaksin populist agenda, will make it more difficult for monetary authorities to remain insulated from popular demands. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a paper on the causes of military insubordination in Thailand prepared for the 46th Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association in Honolulu, Hawaii in March 2005. It cites that the degree of military subordination is contingent on the existence of an organizational culture. It suggests that the insubordination of government orders to use force against demonstrators should be seen as a manifestation of inter-factional conflict. It examines the Thai military's responses to demonstrations in Bangkok on October 14 1973.

We are living in the era of globalization and transnational networks which form fluctuating spaces of global interactions which become visible in cosmopolitan cities like Bangkok. The boundaries between home and abroad have become increasingly blurred through modern communications and fast traveling. In this context, South East Asia has become a promised land for various (often illegal) traffics and individual trade ventures for people from West Africa, Congo or South Africa. This interest for Asia reflects the tightening of the European immigration policies and the emerging image of South East Asia as a market for cheap consumer goods (including counterfact products) to be brought back to Africa. The formation of African networks reflects more individual coping strategies than government-to-government trading relations. Although the Asian media often portraits the African networks as trafficking conflict diamonds and drugs, or as producing illegal migrants, the African traders also bring money to Asian economies (and to various government officials) and are therefore tolerated at a margin of official economies. These networks evolve depending on visa regulations, perceptions of the Asian lucrative markets in Africa and the flight routes between Africa and Asia. In Asian societies, most communities live in their spatially delimited quarters, like Chinatown, Little India etc. In Bangkok, the Nana and Watergate have become virtual homes for African and Middle Eastern communities who continue to recreate boundaries between Congolese, Liberians, Ghaneans or Nigerians who all have their own hang out places and specific activities in the urban space. In this paper, I propose to reflect on how the African communities live and cope in Bangkok at a margin of the dominant Thai society. I will analyze how the Africans recreate their ethnicity and remake virtual home in South East Asia through music, culture, food, trade networks and community based activities such as forming a Congolese football team in Bangkok. Their engagement with Asian societies is often challenging due to dominant images of Africa and ethnicity in Thai society. However, some signs of interaction exist through mixed couples and business contacts. The case of Bangkok offers an interesting example on how ethnicity and migration are intertwined in a cosmopolitan city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Coup provokes a reexamination of democracy in Thailand. What causes the Coup? Does the collapse of civilian government fail the democratization? What lessons can be drawn to understand democratization in other countries? The answers require an analysis from within. The paper examines the trajectory of democracy in Thailand. The ultimate goal is to explain democratization in Thailand. The analysis begins with applying the Western conceptions of democracy then showing how and why the existing frameworks from the West are necessary but insufficient to thoroughly understand the concept of democracy in Thailand. Another goal is to provide an elaborative and realistic point of view of the conception of democracy from Thai perspective. The paper argues that the Coup is the means of the traditional elites to maintain the status quo which is an institution of Thai politics. It is fair to argue that the Coup is a wrong solution for the right decision. It is wrong because it is undemocratic and it violates the fundamental principles of the human rights. It is right because it ends political chaos as a result of the attempt of the civilian government to institutionalize new political, economic, and social systems. The attempt for the institutional change is too progressive, too fast, and too costly for Thai society. The paper explains what the status quo is and how Thai elites and people define democracy. What kind of democracy that fits Thai society? ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although IR scholars have offered various explanations for the origins of sovereignty, the literature is yet to offer a convincing one. Rejecting the hypothesis to locate sovereignty with Westphalia, this paper traces the emergence of sovereignty to two nineteenth century developments: the dominance of the positivist legal theory and the ascendancy of European states over non-European states. Theoretically, this paper integrates critical legal theory and postcolonial theory into international relations theory. The critical legal theory clarifies how three doctrines that constructed sovereignty (state?s ultimate authority, territoriality, recognition) were directly related to the positivist (as opposed to earlier natural) legal theory. The postcolonial theory illuminates how the positivist legal theory?s construction of sovereignty was related to the legitimization of European and delegitimization of non-European political entities. Sovereignty both justified and enabled Europe? domination over non-European political entities. The empirical part of the paper examines the imposition of extraterritoriality (European states? exclusive jurisdiction over their citizens in non-European states) in Japan, China, Turkey, Iran, and Thailand to provide evidence that positivist legal theory?s attempt to conceptualize the interaction of European states? interaction with the non-European political entities crystallized the doctrine of sovereignty. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper problematizes a conventional equation of representation and displacement. Although much of its narrative portrays the forcibly displaced Karens? situations along the Thai-Burmese border zones, its organizing concern is with a general critique of the conventionally simplistic, passive-voice representation of the displaced, either victims or criminals. Such is the mode of nation-state?s representation which has invariably hidden or forgotten the displaced Others? political subjects. Yet, the nation-state has often been haunted by these peoples? self-re-presentation. The paper hence attends to both passive- and active-voice re-presentations by delineating how the displaced Others subjectify themselves amidst the status quo?s inscription, be they the univocity of statist discourses or nationhood?s containment strategies. A tension between nation-state?s inscription and the displaced Others? subjectification is therefore this paper?s terrain. It explicates such tension amidst the intertwining of three geographies: nation-state?s juridical map, displaced Others? maps of allegiance, and geography of money, all surrounding and forming displaced Others? political subjects. Deploying Walter Benjamin?s notion of ?now-time? and narrated in the fashion of Benjaminian historiography, the paper elucidates how the displaced Others exploit opportunities resulting from the intertwining three geographies, and re-presenting themselves while making nation-state?s present bizarre. Hence, they have created their own times, disrupting nation-state?s time as well as its linear and coherent storyline. By re-presenting themselves, they have also shattered nation-state?s self-representation: the displaced Others have ?struck back,? as it were. It is when these displaced Others strike back that they disorder nation-state?s power terrains, hence confounding the victim/criminal distinction. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will address issues related to the ever growing trend in Thai education: English language graduate business programs.Thailand has witnessed almost unprecedented economic growth during the late 80' until mid 90'. However, the country experienced severe financial crises in 1997. Thailand recognizes the shortcomings of its educational system, and the necessity to provide education to its citizens and promote economic development. This paper will address this issue from the perspective of English language graduate business programs. Specifically, it will address issues of how those programs function, if the curriculum is based on local requirements or international/Western standards, and what the outcomes of such programs are. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004, Malaysia celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of its normalization of ties with the Peoples' Republic of China with much fanfare. Thailand followed suite in 2005. Indeed, Malaysian and Thai relations with China have come a long way since Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok were driven by shifting geo-strategic conditions in the mid-1970s to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing despite the fact that their respective policymakers continued to view China with grave apprehension. Taken at surface level, the move by these two small Southeast Asian states to establish ties with China not long after the Sino-U.S. rapprochement appeared to vindicate neorealist structural theories of International Relations, which contend that the policy choices of small states are severely constrained by the international system that in turn permits only balancing or bandwagoning behaviour. This paper contends however, that a careful investigation of how policymakers in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok viewed China over the fifty years or so since the Pacific War, and subsequently how they calibrated their respective foreign policies accordingly, is instructive of the complications that define how small states live with large neighbours in a geopolitical climate characterised by complexity and ambiguity. The investigation undertaken here will proceed in the following manner. The paper first begins by looking at relations during the Cold War, focusing particularly on the content of Thai and Malaysian threat perceptions vis-à-vis China and their respective responses. The section also attempts to unpack the nature and specific constituents of this threat perception. From there, the paper moves on to discuss the post-Cold War "turn", the strategic ambiguity that was born out of this shift, the emergence of China as a major power of consequence in the international politics of East Asia, and how the policies of the two states under scrutiny here adjusted to these new geostrategic realities. The paper then concludes with an assessment of the possible trajectory(s) of Malaysian and Thai relations with China based on the trends that have gone before, and considers the potential input these cases may have to the broader theoretical study of the international politics of East Asia. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deploys Franz Kafka?s parables to open a space for forcibly displaced peoples traversing along many nation-states? border zones. Although much of its narrative depicts the forcibly displaced Karens? situations along the Thai-Burmese border zones, its organizing concern is with a general critique of the international protection regime. It does so by examining the intricate nexus between international juridical fabrics and nation-state?s juridical map, as well as juxtaposing this nexus with that of forcibly displaced peoples? cultural maps along border zones. Narrating incommensurabilities between the two kinds of geographies helps illuminate effects on Karen's ?irregular migration.? Those effects range from tragic memories and experiences to strategies for survival of the displaced Karens. The paper?s task is threefold. It starts by evincing a way of theorizing the interlocking relationship between nation-state?s sovereign power and the forcibly displaced peoples? bodies. Then, it contrasts the displaced peoples? politics of becoming with the nation-state?s politics of being, a bastion of the international protection regime. By so doing, this paper reenacts the displaced peoples? sufferings and experiences of the flesh, which have often been erased by the nation-state? practices of space and identity. Finally, utilizing the information gathered from my fieldwork along the Thai-Burmese border zones since 2000, not only do I challenge the national memory as well as the predicate of state-centric discourse on sovereignty, but I also attempt to resound the displaced Karens? struggles, abandoned along the Thai-Burmese border zones. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What makes the pace and the magnitude of financial reforms vary in Asian countries? Does a country choose financial reforms as a response to the strong international pressures to liberalize finance? Or is the choice to open the financial market a response to societal pressures? Or rather, is it that political institutions have institutional characteristics to facilitate financial reforms? This paper seeks to answer these questions by comparing three Asian countries. I will look at the relative importance of the following explanations on three levels as determinants of financial reforms: 1) the IMF?s influence as an explanation at the international level, 2) political institutions as an explanation at the national level, and 3) interest group pressures as an explanation at the societal level in determining financial policies. I argue that although the IMF?s influence is the most significant predictor in explaining pace and magnitude of financial reforms, the IMF?s influence on financial reforms is contingent upon the number of veto players. In this paper, I will conduct case studies of the following three countries: Thailand, Korea, and Indonesia. Especially, I will look at how a country enhances the supervision over the banking sector by comparing the pre and post Asian financial crisis. Establishing effective prudential banking supervision over the banking sector is a critical area, given the magnitude of impact of a banking crisis and the emphasis by the IMF in their conditionality programs more than ever after the Asian financial crisis. Nevertheless, in spite of the emphasis of strengthening banking supervisory agency by the IMF conditionality programs after the Asian financial crisis for all three countries, the pace of enhancing the banking supervision varies across these three countries. Therefore, I assume that the number of political parties within the executive branch, preferences and the degree of concentration of the banking sector would explain the pace of enhancing the banking supervision, holding the IMF pressure as constant. I will closely examine how the interactions between the IMF, political parties within executive coalitions, and the banking sector shape the pace and the magnitude of financial reforms in the area of the banking supervision. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contrasts the differences in teaching international education at Oklahoma State University and Prince of Songkla in Thailand. The paper outlines the development of the School of International Studies at Oklahoma State (MS degree) and the author?s experiences in Thailand where he served as a Fulbright Scholar. The paper first provides a context for each setting before outlining the similarities and differences. The challenge is the same: International Education. The obstacles and opportunities of each setting highlight the scope and impact of international education." ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One issue dividing North and South (or West and East) is the construction of potentially environmentally-damaging large-scale development projects such as dams. While large-scale dams are off the agenda in most developed countries, it is still very much the trend in developing countries. Although several international guidelines and protocols on dam construction exist, several developing countries do not strictly follow these. Without paying much attention to social/environmental costs, many Asian countries construct large-scale dams to provide energy to its industries and water to grow export crops ? in order to cater to the demands of the global market.The paper examines the case of the controversial Pak Mun Dam in Ubon Ratchathani Province in Northeastern Thailand ? showing how the global has affected the local and how the local perceives the global. The study likewise presents the dialogues of the villagers vis-à-vis the ?reality? of an altered environment and how such dialogues have facilitated the construction/reconstruction of local knowledge (on fishing, rice farming and livestock raising, in particular). The paper investigates the role of communication in generating such dialogues and constructing/reconstructing local knowledge and practices. As a backgrounder, the Pak Mun Dam is the biggest dam controversy Thailand has ever experienced. The dam, built across the Mun River, was designed to produce 139 megawatts for agricultural and industrial purposes. However, before constructing the dam, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) chose not to consult Pak Mun villagers and conduct thorough studies on environmental and social impacts. As a consequence, thousands of villagers, environmentalists and activists groups opposed the said construction. The dam project was completed in 1994. However, until today, protest actions from various sectors continue in part since villagers in the area want to preserve/restore their constructed/reconstructed identities (via forcing the government to open the gates of the dam permanently) and in part of the government?s policy of constructing more large-scale dams. A total of 23 depth interviews were conducted for the study ? 10 farmers, 7 village leaders, 2 academicians, 2 government representative and 2 protest movement representatives. Aside from examining relevant documents, observations of village agricultural and communication activities were undertaken. The study has implications for transborder issues, especially in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. There is an existing plan to put up eight major dams in the Mekong itself to be known as the ?Mekong Cascade.? There are also plans to divert water from the Mekong to new or existing hydroelectric complexes in Thailand. Such plans, when actualized, would result in altered environments for thousands of villages ? who would then engage in dialogues in order to reconstruct new knowledge and practices. By documenting the experience of Pak Mun villages, the paper aims to contribute to the debate on dam construction ? its social costs/benefits ? and recommend additional guidelines ? in the area of constructive dialogues and public awareness/participation. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper will seek to address the influence of neo-liberal idea in shaping the characteristics of Thailand’s financial system and its implications on the state and society. It will first examine the rationale of the Thai government in its decision to liberalize the financial system in the late 1980s. The main argument is that the commitment to the neo-liberal idea of the Bank of Thailand (BOT), the initiator and key implementor of financial liberalization, played an important role in its interpretation of economic and political contexts that led to the decision to liberalize the financial system. The paper then seeks to discuss the financial crisis of 1997 based on the idea of structural compatibility. It will be argued that the causes of the crisis were not merely the problems of proper implementation and supervision, as neo-liberal proponents suggest, but problems of compatibility between the existing financial system and regulatory frameworks and the newly adopted liberalized models. Such structural incompatibility had led to conflicts in policy implementation that were difficult to reconcile. Adding to this problem was the problem of institutional failure in the BOT. On the one hand, the decline in the Bank’s autonomy from political influence had affected its role in managing financial liberalization. On the other, the Bank’s autonomy in technical operations rooted in the old organizational structure aggravated the problem of transparency and accountability. In the last section, the paper assesses the structural reforms of the Thai financial sector in the post-crisis era, particularly based on how the problems of structural compatibility and the issue of central bank autonomy have been resolved. It also seeks to address the social and political implications of the tumultuous development of financial liberalization in Thailand from late 1980s to early 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why and how did the issue of human trafficking make its way to the top of the international agenda, and at the top of the national agendas of the United States and Thailand, two important countries in the contemporary global movement to combat trafficking? What happened when it got to the top? Employing a constructivist theoretical framework, I will focus on the response to the issue of trafficking by a variety of political actors â€" activists, government officials, advocates, and academics; and organizations and agencies â€" nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and government ministries. Constructivism proposes that principled ideas matter, and that nonstate actors have an increasingly important role to play in international politics. In order to craft a progressive response to this transnational problem, the coordination between governments and nongovernmental organizations has led to the framing of this issue in a way that would compel governments to act. The particular configurations of actors debating and cooperating on this issue have created unique advocacy networks, especially in and between Thailand and the United States. My empirical research has led me to propose the hypothesis that the development and maintenance of transnational advocacy networks (TANs) over the course of several years have been instrumental in framing human trafficking in such a way to keep the issue high on the political agenda. I will examine this process of norm development, norm building, and norm implementation among the actors in the TANs in and between Thailand and the United States. With the advocacy networks promoting the implementation of norms, we can begin to see institutional changes in Thailand and the United States which are multifaceted responses to a complex transnational problem. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the various aspects of globalization that have affected countries and leaders in Southeast Asia and had an impact through links to the U.S. as the center of power. It places emphasis on interrelated issues of globalization in Thailand. It argues that globalization issues are interrelated in a complex matrix of values and preferences that relate to authority and control by the government and leaders' determination that citizens and their human rights pose the greatest threat in wars.

The article examines the development of economic and financial regionalism in East Asia since 1997. It highlights the creation of regional economic trade and investment zones, including the ASEAN Free Trade Area. It analyzes the operationalization of the Chiang Mai, Thailand and Asian Bond Fund Initiatives as well as the proposed development of a regional stock exchange to determine their impact on the regional economic structure. It examines the role played by the emerging regional policy communities in establishing an Asian Economic Community.

The discusses the involvement of Japan in regional integration and Asian crisis management, with a particular focus on the case study of Thailand. The factor that force Japan to involve in rescuing the crisis-devastated economies lies in a growing economic integration and interdependence of the continent. Also demonstrated is the emergence of Asian regionalism under Japanese economic leadership. It adds that the government of Japan showed its commitments to industrial transformation in Thailand.

The article discusses the growth of shrimp aquaculture in Thailand within the context of the globalization of the agro-food system. It explains the application of the regulation theory to the global agro-food system in relation to food regime and the characteristics of state intervention in the agricultural development. It emphasizes the impact of increased consumption and technological innovation on the rise of the global shrimp aquaculture industry. It cites the negative effects of the expanding shrimp aquaculture on the ecosystem and livelihood.

This paper aims to illuminate the political ruptures within the films Mysterious Object at Noon (2000) and Blissfully Yours (2002) by Thai cineaste Apichatpong Weerasethakul. I suggest that the hermeneutic approach of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the post-hermeneutic lens of Jacques Rancière share a framework for conceptualizing Apichatpong's film oeuvre through their similar disdain for rigid structures of representation and subjectivization and by underscoring the importance of 'visible' forms of life. I suggest that Wittgenstein's suggestion that we are always participating in multiple language games at once illustrates the impact of the film encounter and the process of subjectivization discussed in the work of Rancière and projected in Apichatpong's two films. I conclude by highlighting the politics that reside between the aesthetic forms of Apichatpong's New Thai Cinema and the situated forms of life in contemporary Thailand. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the formation of Thailand?s worldview and its implications on modern Thai foreign policy making and diplomatic maneuvers as which is well-known ?bamboo diplomacy? (bending with the wind). In the 18th century, Siam (Prior to 1939, Thailand was known as Siam) opened its borders to both Chinese immigrants and Western missionaries. Such visionary decisions helped Siam avoid colonialism and significantly influenced the shaping of modern Thailand?s worldview at King Rama IV (King of the King and I) era. During World War II, the country demonstrated its skillful ?bamboo diplomacy? by simultaneously collaborating with both Japan and the Allies. Consequently, Thailand suffered less than virtually any country in the Asian region during the war. During the Vietnam War, Thailand became a staunch ally of the United States and a land-based ?aircraft carrier? for the intensive US bombing of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. In the ASEAN era, Thailand has been endeavoring to maintain a dynamic balance between ASEAN-centered notion and independent diplomacy. In the new millennium, Thailand?s Thaksin regime seemingly adopt a more proactive foreign policy but such changes still based on the essence of traditional Thai vision on international power context. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ThaiCraft, a nongovernmental organization (NGO), has focused on handicrafts as a way to improve women?s economic conditions in Thailand over the last few decades. Like many NGOs, these organizations rely on skills women already have to weave products that can be sold in the marketplace. The organization faces a dual challenge. On the one hand, it seeks to improve women?s standard of living, or practical gender needs. On the other hand, it also confronts the longer-term, strategic gender needs, if it is to help reduce gender inequalities over the long-term in Thailand. Can an economic activity that is so gendered promote overall development? This paper seeks to examine the effects of the NGO and the greater implications that globalization, particularly through NGO intervention, has on women?s development. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thai nonstate organizations and transnational networks (TANs) have been involved in influencing the Thai anti-trafficking agenda since the 1980s. Despite significant activism against trafficking in Thailand throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. governm ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia's perennial powerhouse United Malays National Organization(UMNO) and Thailand's short-lived Thai Rak Thai both dominated theirrespective political systems, and both used overwhelming legislativemajorities to advance social reforms that bene ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts of violence in southern Thailand since January 2004 commonly refer to frameworks of ethnic separatism and Islamic militancy, Thai nationalism, or domestic politics in their search for causes of the current conflict. This essay will examine certai ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why is it that some Muslim minorities in Asia realize cooperative state-minority relations, others have experienced mixed relations over time, and still others organized and protracted violent confrontation with state authorities? This study focuses on the role played by various government policies in the collective political behavior of eight Muslim-minority communities in six Asian countries, namely Burma, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Using qualitative methods, it traces which policies governments choose when faced with cooperative, nonviolent and violent collective action from their Muslim minorities. Elements of the social mobilization framework, including perceived grievances, resources, framing narratives, and political opportunity are recast as causal mechanisms linking government and minority political behavior. Results indicate that how a government policy is carried out is more important than whether the government’s objective is to accommodate or assimilate the minority. In other words, governments employ strategies of neglect, persuasion and/or coercion to carry out their policies, and these strategy choices greatly impact the state-minority relationship and, in turn, collective behavior of minorities. Of these three strategies, neglect is particularly detrimental: harmful by itself, neglect magnifies the negative effects of coercion and negates the normally constructive influence of inducements. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While votes themselves have no intrinsic value to politicians and provide simply a means toward office or policy benefits, how they are mobilized and delivered, which is contingent upon political institutional context, has profound consequences on behaviors of politicians and political parties. I propose a set of new hypotheses about the role party institutional constraints in shaping elected officials' preferences toward public policies. I argue that parties of weak organizational basis in grassroot society generate greater constaints and incentives for politicians to develop public policy preferences in line with those of "resource-rich but vote-poor" private economic interests. I test my hypotheses with a comparative study of prudential regulation of banks in Argentina and Thailand in the 1990s. My analysis shows that mass parties and electoral parties have different internal constituency, face different party institutional constraints that lead them to adopt comparatively distinctive campaign strategies, and accordingly develop different preferences toward financial regulation. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little has been written about how coalitions influence micro-economic outcomes. Using income equality to measure coalitional breadth and participation, I find that broader and more participative coalitions lead to increased capacity of education and training systems to produce technical intellectual capital in the form of engineers, scientists, and technicians. Then, using Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore as case studies, I examine the political and economic mechanisms through which coalitions influence institutional capacity and subsequent micro-economic outcomes in education and training. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]