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State of the Nation: Thailand

Author: Suchit Bunbongkarn

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 0788137085

While Thailand is fast acquiring the status of newly-industrializing economy in the 1980s and 1990s, our knowledge and understanding may be based on stereotypes from the post-colonial transformation. We may end up neglecting many of the significant new issues in Thailand that may well determine questions of stability and prosperity in the future. This book provides a thoughtful overview of the significant political, economic and social developments that have shaped Thailand over the last two decades. Bibliography. Index.

The Lost Territories

Author: Shane Strate

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 2015-01-31

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0824854373

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It is a cherished belief among Thai people that their country was never colonized. Yet politicians, scholars, and other media figures chronically inveigh against Western colonialism and the imperialist theft of Thai territory. Thai historians insist that the country adapted to the Western-dominated world order more successfully than other Southeast Asian kingdoms and celebrate their proud history of independence. But many Thai leaders view the West as a threat and portray Thailand as a victim. Clearly Thailand's relationship with the West is ambivalent. The Lost Territories explores this conundrum by examining two important and contrasting strands of Thai historiography: the well-known Royal-Nationalist ideology, which celebrates Thailand's long history of uninterrupted independence; and what the author terms "National Humiliation discourse," its mirror image. Shane Strate examines the origins and consequences of National Humiliation discourse, showing how the modern Thai state has used the idea of national humiliation to sponsor a form of anti-Western nationalism. Unlike triumphalist Royal-Nationalist narratives, National Humiliation history depicts Thailand as a victim of Western imperialist bullying. Focusing on key themes such as extraterritoriality, trade imbalances, and territorial loss, National Humiliation history maintains that the West impeded Thailand's development even while professing its support and cooperation. Although the state remains the hero in this narrative, it is a tragic heroism defined by suffering and foreign oppression. Through his insightful analysis of state and media sources, Strate demonstrates how Thai politicians have deployed National Humiliation imagery in support of ethnic chauvinism and military expansion. He shows how the discourse became the ideological foundation of Thailand's irredentist strategy, the state's anti-Catholic campaign, and its acceptance of pan-Asianism during World War II; and how the "state as victim" narrative has been used by politicians to redefine Thai identity and elevate the military into the role of national savior. The Lost Territories will be of particular interest to historians and political scientists for the light it sheds on many episodes of Thai foreign policy, including the contemporary dispute over Preah Vihear. The book's analysis of the manipulation of historical memory will interest academics exploring similar phenomena worldwide.

Finding Their Voice

Author: Charles Keyes

Publisher: Silkworm Books

Published: 2014-01-05

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1631023322

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The rural, Lao-speaking people of northeastern Thailand constitute over a third of the entire population of Thailand. Over the last century, this ethnically separate community has evolved from a traditional peasantry into “cosmopolitan” villagers who are actively shaping Thai politics. Eminent anthropologist Charles Keyes traces this evolution in detail, beginning with the failure of a Buddhist millenarian uprising in 1901–2 and concluding with the successful election of the Thai Rak Thai/Pheu Thai Party in the 2000s. In the intervening century, rural northeasterners have become more educated and prosperous, and they have gained a sophisticated understanding of the world and of their position in it as Thai citizens. Although northeasterners have often been thwarted in their efforts to press government agencies to redress their grievances, they have rejected radical revolutionary efforts to transform the Thai political system. Instead, they have looked to parliamentary democracy as the system in which they can make their voices heard. As the country engages with the processes of democracy, the Pheu Thai Party and the Red Shirt movement appear to have established the people of northeastern Thailand as an authentic voice in the nation’s political landscape. Highlights • Traces the evolution of a marginalized peasantry into a significant political force in Thai society • Examines the disjunction between the urban middle-class negative perspectives on the northeastern Thai rural population and real characteristics of that population • Highlights the different views of political authority and legitimacy in Thailand that have contributed to the twenty-first century crisis in the Thai political order What Others Are Saying “Finding Their Voice by anthropologist Charles Keyes is a culmination of decades of careful ethnography consistently combined with an astute political analysis and sense of history. Reminiscent of Eugen Weber’s classic, “Peasants into Frenchmen,” Keyes’s book shows that the people of Isan have become the makers and undoers of governments and are more firmly wedded to the modern notion of parliamentary democracy than are the refined urban elites. This book has as much to say about the polarized politics of Thailand as it does about the rich culture and history of Isan.” —Philip Hirsch, University of Sydney

The Crown and the Capitalists

Author: Wasana Wongsurawat

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2019-11-18

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 0295746262

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Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.

The State of the Nation

Author: Derek Curtis Bok

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 502

ISBN-13: 9780674292116

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The author shows that although Americans are better off today in most areas than they were in 1960, they have performed poorly compared with other leading industrial nations.

Democracy and National Identity in Thailand

Author: Michael Kelly Connors

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0415272300

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"The book will be fascinating reading for Southeast Asia specialists, and researchers on democratization, national identity and the politics of Thailand."--BOOK JACKET.

Forest Monks and the Nation-state

Author: J. L. Taylor

Publisher: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9789813016491

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This book is a detailed study on the ascetic forest monk tradition in the Lao-speaking provinces of northeastern Thailand in the wake of the early twentieth century politico-religious reforms. The narrative alternates between the periphery and the capital, dealing with historic transformations and persistencies in the social field of wandering forest monks as well as the contemporary impact of this monastic tradition in the wider social and political milieu. The writer uses original ethnographic materials and provides a rare insight into the formation of monastic lineages and the local politico-religious histories of present-day northeastern Thailand.

Thailand

Author: Charles F Keyes

Publisher: Westview Press

Published: 1987-01-11

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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"Thailand is exceptional among modern states in Asia in that it has built and retianed a national culture around a traditional monarchic institution. Moreover, this culture has also been based on a dominant religious tradition, that of Theravada Buddhism. ... Significant tensions have arisen from the efforts by members of the Thai elite to make the monarchical traditions ... basic to Thai national culture. Other tensions have arisen as monarchy, military, bureaucracy, the Buddhist sangha, business interests, and elected political representatives assert or maintain an authoritative position in the state structure. This book examines these tensions with reference to the major changes in Thai society, economy, polity, and culture in the twentieth century, especially since World War II."--From dust jacket.