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Abstract The increase of migrant workers into the Kingdom of Thailand began in the mid-1980s and early 1990s when Thailand was in transition from a low-end labour-intensive economy, to a capital-intensive one. The role of migrant workers became even more evident when Thailand encountered the economic crisis of the mid-1990s. Current statistics indicate that Thailand receives more than a million migrant workers from neighbouring countries, including Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia. This paper traces the five stages of the Royal Thai Government's (RTG) policies to managing cross-border migration and migrant worker issues in Thailand. It argues that despite the introduction of policies of management of the issue, migrant workers are vulnerable to human trafficking. Furthermore, as more often than not migrant workers are irregular migrants, they are treated as a risk to national security. As such they are vulnerable to labour exploitation. This paper analyses the problems in policy and legal enforcement between countries of origin and the RTG, suggesting ways in which these problems can be overcome to ensure compliance with international norms, and thus the responsibility of the RTG to its 'foreign workers'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the disintegration of Western colonies in Africa and Asia ended the formal colonialism, the structures of dependency remained intact and were mushroomed to other countries in the region. One such dependency is academic dependency in which universities in much of Asia and Africa follow the curricula introduced in the colonial era. Although scholars put a great deal of efforts in challenging this academic imperialism, this dependency has been promoted by departments such as Department of English. Whereas "World Literature in English" or "Literary Studies" is gaining momentum around the world, the English literature programmes in Iranian universities are celebrating the Anglo-American canonical literature. By drawing on Syed Hussein Alatas' concepts of "academic dependency," this paper examines how the English literature programmes in Iran are promoting academic imperialism, which prompts the urgency of decolonisation of English literature. It also reveals how this decolonisation can be taken to its ultimate conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation and social inequalities are the central research interests of a number of scholars in the world today. This Special Issue, Social Stratification Studies in East Asia, offers selected papers presented at the Tohoku University - National University of Singapore Joint Forum of Sociology and Stratification Studies held in Singapore in February 2009. This journal issue introduces five enthusiastic research projects presented at the forum on a variety of social stratification issues. These papers highlight the studies of sociologists who delve into inequalities and disparities in globalised Asia today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From mid-1970s, Asian societies have experienced unprecedented economic growth, and have invested in the development of their own welfare regimes, which offers support to the individual even though public funding is limited. Welfare development received growing attention in Asia. The financial crisis that began in 1997 signified a drastic change in the policy context. The future of Asian economy and employment is bleak, and governments must face the risk of shrinking public resources in response to increasing social demands. The paper discussed the risks of our welfare system, and the weaknesses of public sector, community and private welfare in meeting these increasing social demands after the financial crisis, as observed in Hong Kong and other Asian societies. Although work income and occupational welfare will still be the primary protection systems of individuals and families, partly due to the dominance of neo-liberalism in the global economy and the free market system in this region. However, given the possibility of increasing vulnerability to unemployment in the future, it is also necessary to install a stronger collective system of social security and policies to pool resources together to share the risks. Of course, these initiatives will require a redefinition of the notion of citizenship and the contract that exist among individuals, and between the state and its citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The persistence of non-liberal regimes in Asia, even after the financial and economic crisis, raises questions about how social and economic regimes change and the sort of legal and political frameworks required by modern market capitalism. This paper looks at the issue of convergence and critically assesses claims that the apparent failure of market transformation results from poor policies, weak institutions, captured states and weak social capital. It is argued that the failures of convergence call into question the very assumptions that neo-liberal reform requires markets that are open, governments where public and private interest is separated and defined by law, and democratic political systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Said's work has had different significance in different contexts. From a literary perspective his greatest achievement has been his challenging of the New Critical separation of aesthetic and political concerns. His seminal work Orientalism has been the central influence of the last twenty years for literary scholars concerned with cultural exchanges between Asia and America, even though his professed task was the discussion of European and Middle Eastern political and aesthetic interrelations. This paper examines the political significance of Orientalism in the light of the struggles within literary studies a that gave rise to the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the human security implications of the Asian economic crisis for the Western Pacific. It will be shown that the regional insecurity was not caused by great power military intervention or by the escalation of territorial disputes, or subversion from revolutionary ideologies. Rather the insecurity was transmitted through the unregulated operation of the global market, on which the countries of East Asia had based their national and regional development strategies. It is likely that the regional approach to security will change forever after 1998. It is argued that if the countries of the Western Pacific are to successfully ameliorate the effects of the Asian economic crisis as well as optimally position themselves to resolve future challenges then a regional security regime that revolves around humanitarian concerns must be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]