In this webinar, Mr Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit shared lessons that he gained from local election campaigns. Drawing on these experiences, he discusses the underlying problems of the governing structure of the Thai state and offered his views on why and how the power relations between the central government and local administrations need to change.
In this webinar, Dr Punchada Sirivunnabood examines the policies that the Phalang Pracharat Party has developed in an effort to ensure its victory in Thailand’s next national elections.
In this webinar, The Honorable Abhisit Vejjajiva, former Prime Minister of Thailand, shared his thoughts on the role and importance of political parties in his country’s democracy.
In this webinar, Dr Paul Chambers scrutinizes the evolution of khaki capital over time in Thailand. How has Thai khaki capital progressed, where does it stand today, and what is its likely future?
In this webinar, Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow addresses the student protests in Bangkok and assess the prospects for the Thai economy and for Thai diplomacy in the medium-term future.
In this webinar, Prof Duncan McCargo shares his insights from working on his latest book (Future Forward – The Rise and Fall of a Thai Political Party, co-authored with Anyarat Chattharakul) in which he examine the rapid success and demise of the short-lived Future Forward Party in Thailand and what drove the phenomenon.
In this webinar Dr Rattana Lao and Mr Thomas Parks from the Thailand office of the Asia Foundation will present key findings from a series of current research projects — covering online learning, education reform, the impact of COVID on small business and Thailand’s middle-income trap challenges.
In this webinar, Dr Punchada Sirivunnabood addressed a set of scenarios for the near-term future of Thai politics, touching on challenges to the stability of the government, and especially the role of the young generation in politics; on the role of the opposition parties; on the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and on conflicts within the Phalang Pracharat Party.
Professor Yos Santasombat spoke at a Thailand Studies Programme seminar on the contemporary relationship between China and ASEAN countries.
THAILAND STUDIES PROGRAMME SEMINAR
About the Seminar
This presentation examines the impact of China’s economic regionalism on sites of intensified resource extraction in the Mekong borderlands. In particular, a Chinese-driven banana boom and the penetration of overland Chinese entrepreneurs have turned farmland along the Mekong River on the Thai-Laos borders into banana production factories and export processing zones over the past decade. It is argued that the Chinese banana industry’s practice of ‘shifting plantations’ has transformed the Mekong borderlands into agricultural frontiers that allow for specific and intensive regimes of resource extraction.
The Mekong Region, especially Laos, has been identified as an ideal place for land acquisitions by Chinese banana-producing investors. In all banana plantations, vast quantities of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are required to maintain monoculture production. This process poses serious health risks to workers and the surrounding environment. After 6 to 10 years of producing fruit on cleared farmland, the company usually abandons it for another plot once factors such as soil depletion and pest infestation begin to lower yields. Since 2016, the government of Laos has issued a ban on new banana plantations. The shifting plantation practices, however, have spread to Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, wreaking health and environment havoc along its path.
The case of Chinese banana plantations in Laos is a striking example of some of the challenges posed by Beijing’s economic influence in Southeast Asia.
About the Speaker
Yos Santasombat is Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University, and Senior Research Scholar, Thailand Research Fund. He is currently a Visiting Fellow in the Thailand Studies Programme of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. He is the author of numerous books, including Lak Chang: A Reconstruction of Tai Identity in Daikong (Canberra: Pandanus Books, ANU, 2001), Biodiversity, Local Knowledge and Sustainable Development (Chiang Mai: RSCD, 2003, 2014), Flexible Peasants: Reconceptualising the Third World’s Rural Types (Chiang Mai: RCSD, 2008), The River of Life: Changing Ecosystems of the Mekong Region (Chiang Mai: Mekong Press, 2011), as well as the edited volumes Impact of China’s Rise on the Mekong Region (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia: Cultures and Practices (Springer, 2017).
Registration
For registration, please fill in this form and email to iseasevents2@iseas.edu.sg by 12 October 2017.