Showing papers in "Journal of Contemporary Asia in 2008"

Doi Moi in Review: The Challenges of Building Market Socialism in Vietnam

Abstract: Two decades ago the Vietnamese Communist Party embarked on a transformation from central planning towards a “socialist market economy under state guidance.” It looked to East Asian development models, particularly the role of state enterprises (SEs), combined with the creation of a “civilised and equitable” society. The article argues that, in the case of SEs, the state's inability, especially under donor pressure, to provide crucial investment support to the SEs meant that foreign investors and the domestic non-state sector began to dominate the economic landscape. While state-led development remains feasible, it requires a clear and more authoritative industry policy; otherwise, the balance of interventionism could eventually tip towards cronyism. Further, the vagueness of the term “civilised and equitable” society leaves open both conformity with the post-Washington consensus and the possibility to achieve more aggressive redistributive measures, including redistribution of power. In practice,...

Thaksin's populism

Abstract: Thaksin Shinawatra was not a populist when he rose to power in 2001, but became so in intensifying stages over the next five years. His populism went beyond redistributive policies to include rhetorical rejection of Thailand's political elite, and denigration of liberal democracy in favour of personalised authoritarianism. Fears provoked by this populism helped to mobilise the urban middle-class rejection of Thaksin which was background to the 2006 coup. Thaksin's populism was a response to the demands and insecurities of the large informal mass created by an outward-orientated strategy of development. Thaksin's populism resembles the neo-populism prevalent in Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s. Also like these regimes, Thaksin made no investment in mass organisation, and fell precipitately when subject to elite attack. In Latin America, this phase has been superseded by leaders with a more ideological message and greater investment in organisation.

The 2006 anti-Thaksin movement in Thailand: An analysis

Abstract: This article examines the mass protests against Thailand's billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006. Over a series of several months, hundreds of thousands of people took part in demonstrations that created a deep political crisis and forced Thaksin to call snap elections. This political crisis was partly a result of intra-elite conflict between the old power elite and Thaksin's “CEO-style” rule, which opened up space for a broader politicisation. However, a closer look at Thaksin's own mass support and a comparison of his populism with Venezuela's President Chavez leads us to the analysis that the crisis resulted from deeper contradictions within Thaksin's “post neo-liberal” capitalist restructuring project. The movement against Thaksin thus drew on and brought together different sections of Thai society rebelling against Free Trade Agreements, privatisation and authoritarian, corporate-dominated politics. The article concludes with some reflections on the movement and the question ...

A different coup d'état?

Abstract: The 2006 coup d'etat was far more than a simple case of military seizure of power. Rather, the 19 September 2006 coup is connected intimately with the monarchy in various respects. The “royalist military” legitimated the coup by using the royalist discourse that was generated by the anti-Thaksin movement and the massive celebrations of the king's 60th year on the throne. Having succeeded in overthrowing prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the coup makers thought they could secure the throne by ensuring loyal succession to the position of Army Commander-in-Chief in the medium term. To enhance military influence the “royal military” are also revitalising a Cold War relic, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC). In line with this political regression, it appears that military want to return Thailand to the years of “semi-democracy,” when the military and bureaucracy had significant power over elected politicians.

Article of faith: The failure of royal liberalism in Thailand

Abstract: Calls for “royal intervention” to end the political crisis that wracked Thailand in 2006 were consistent with the disposition of Thai liberalism. The apparent paradox of liberals seeking a seemingly extra-constitutional solution to end the popular rule of Thaksin Shinawatra's government stems from the agnosticism of liberalism to majoritarian democracy. The specific challenges that emerged as a consequence of Thaksin's rise led liberals to mobilise royalist ideas to withstand Thaksin's assault on the liberally conceived 1997 Constitution. Key among these ideas was the notion of sovereignty as expressed in the relationship between the monarch and the people, or rachaprachasamasai. The failure of “royal liberalism” to bring an end to the crisis, may signal a more general failure of royal liberalism to secure political order in the future.

The Rural Constitution and the Everyday Politics of Elections in Northern Thailand

Abstract: The Thai coup of 19 September 2006 derived ideological legitimacy from the view that the Thaksin government's electoral mandate was illegitimate because it had been ''bought'' from an unsophisticated and easily manipulated electorate. There is nothing new about this argu- ment, nor its use in justifying military interference. Political commentators have asserted regu- larly that the Thai populace lacks the basic characteristics essential for a modern democratic citizenry. Accounts of the deficiencies of rural voters often focus on their parochialism, their lack of political sophistication, the vulnerability to vote buying and the influence of electoral canvas- sers (hua khanaen). This article challenges this negative portrayal of rural electoral culture. Drawing on ethnographic field work in northern Thailand, it is argued that the everyday politics of elections is informed by a range of different electoral values that shape judgements about legitimate, and illegitimate, political power in electoral contexts. These local values can be usefully thought of as comprising a ''rural constitution.''

Introduction: Thailand and the “good coup”

Abstract: The last time the Journal of Contemporary Asia produced a special issue on Thailand, in 1978 (Volume 8, No 1), it was a response to the events surrounding the military coup on 6 October 1976 That

A book, the king and the 2006 coup

Abstract: This article involves an assessment of Paul Handley's important book, The King Never Smiles. A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej. The article begins with a discussion of the supposed threat the book posed to the monarchy and outlines the attempts to prevent publication. It then outlines Handley's evaluation of the involvement of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's palace in Thailand's modern politics. It uses this approach as a way to examine the clash of elites within Thailand's ruling class that led to a royalist campaign against the Thaksin Shinawatra government and the 2006 military coup.

Law and Civil Society in Cambodia and Vietnam: A Gramscian Perspective

Abstract: Commentators have long struggled to understand state-society relations in Asia within the framework of the dominant liberal-democratic conceptualisation of civil society. This article examines the relevance of Antonio Gramsci's theory of civil society for understanding contemporary Cambodia and Vietnam, with reference to both legal and social frameworks. Such an analysis illuminates important aspects of state-society relations in Southeast Asia that tend to be overlooked by dominant liberal and Marxist perspectives. This article argues, however, that the utility of Gramsci's conception of civil society for understanding state-society relations in Cambodia and Vietnam, by retaining the notion of civil society as a realm associatively separate from the state, is limited.

The Thai Rak Thai party and elections in North-eastern Thailand

Abstract: Thaksin Shinawatra's electoral success, through the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party, has led to a debate: was the party's electoral landslide based on the appeal of its policies or the power of money? On one side of the debate, the party's success was seen to result from its policies that reflected the interests of widely divergent sectors of the electorate. On the other side, TRT was held to be no different from “old-style” political parties that relied on money politics (vote buying, buying members of parliament and other kinds of patronage). This article explores the nature of TRT's successes and failures by examining the operation of TRT in north-eastern Thailand. It is argued that it is wrong to single out policies or money as a source of TRT's success because the party relied on both strategies to win elections.

The Crown Property Bureau in Thailand and the crisis of 1997

Abstract: The Crown Property Bureau is the monarchy's investment arm in Thailand. While the monarchy's political role has been much discussed since the 2006 coup, its economic foundations, activities and role have seldom been studied. To understand these aspects better, this article looks at how the 1997 crisis affected the Crown Property Bureau. The Bureau was particularly vulnerable because of its dependence on the performance of two private companies in which the Bureau was a major shareholder. Both companies, the Siam Commercial Bank and the Siam Cement Group, were in sectors that were hit hard by the crisis. The Bureau survived the crisis by making significant changes in its own management and investment policies, and by promoting similar reforms in two affiliated companies. As a result, the Bureau emerged with an income significantly higher than its peak pre-crisis level.

Singapore Inc. Goes Shopping Abroad: Profits and Pitfalls

Abstract: Efficient state-led, market-driven intervention has been the hallmark of Singapore's success story but the exportability of state credibility, systemic efficiencies and local advantages into alien contexts is a matter of academic and political controversy. This article scrutinises Singapore's experience with outward investment in order to objectively examine the role of Temasek and of the government-linked corporations (GLCs). It uses the case of Temasek's investment in Thailand to reflect upon the economic and political impacts of the GLCs' global quest. It shows that resistance to Singaporean acquisitions reflects a combination of factors, including a general turn towards “economic nationalism,” attempts by other governments to replicate the city-state's state-led modernisation, and Temasek's and GLCs' underestimation of the risks that are germane to their international strategy.

The Politics of Chaebol Reform in Korea: Social Cleavage and New Financial Rules

Abstract: Korea's developmental state had long maintained the principle of “separation between industrial capital and financial capital,” whereby the nation's industrial conglomerates – the chaebol – were restricted from having controlling ownership of financial institutions, especially banks. The financial crisis of 1997-98 renewed calls for regulating the chaebol, especially in terms of reinforcing corporate governance and competition policy. This process was supported and promoted by vibrant non-governmental organisations led by progressive activists who forged an effective alliance with the government and the ruling party whose platform followed a populist course. The reform movement has been resisted with equal fervour by conservative elements, led by the opposition party, chaebol-supported think tanks, and the conservative media. This cleavage is evident in the case of a pending legislation on chaebol ownership of financial institutions, the Financial Industry Structure Law. The controversy over this...

Political Economy of Southeast Asian Borderlands: Migration, Environment, and Developing Country Firms

Abstract: Borderland zones in Southeast Asia have become sites of increased economic investment for developing country firms, intra-regional and transnational corporations. As a result of deregulation, these investment opportunities have led to the exploitation of natural and human resources in an unsustainable and unjust way. This article argues that the flows of people and natural resources across borders are connected intimately and that this has been facilitated politically by the acceptance of the porosity of territorial boundaries by all governments in the region and the imperative to export environmentally degrading development projects into neighbouring countries where political mobilisation on environmental issues is much less effective. Conveyed through a series of cases studies (on resource extraction, dam and reservoir construction, and working conditions in apparel companies), this article explores how developing country companies comply with the codes of conduct on corporate responsibility on...

Rich doctors and poor patients: Market failure and health care systems in developing countries

Abstract: This article argues that, in developing countries, health care systems (HCS) have been facing the problem of market failure, implying that the fair rules of market principles do not apply and patients often become losers. Explaining the theoretical issues involved, the article examines various causes of market failures in HCS, including: rent-seeking activities by doctors, asymmetric information between doctors and patients, between patients and insurance companies, and the oligopolistic behaviour of health care practitioners. The policy implications of the study suggest that, in many cases, government intervention is essential to eliminate market failures in the HCS in developing countries.

Online Opposition in Singapore: Communications Outreach Without Electoral Gain

Abstract: The internet's public availability in Singapore has fostered a belief among opposition parties in the city-state that the internet will provide them with a new tool of external outreach to overcome local media bias and make electoral gains against the ruling People's Action Party. Ten years after the first opposition party went online, Singapore's opposition parties' online presence is small, its online external outreach weak and their electoral fortunes remain unchanged. Why is this so? This article argues that a do-it-yourself approach, technical challenges, a culture of caution and the parties' control over its members' online communications are the chief reasons why their use of the internet for external outreach has been less than optimal. The article concludes that the internet provides opposition parties an additional external outreach medium. However, that outreach has not helped improve their electoral success. This shows that relying on the internet does not yield electoral advantage.

Singapore: the limits of a technocratic approach to health care

Abstract: Being a tiny, easily managed polity run by Western-educated technocrats, Singapore is an ideal laboratory for those who believe that there is a “logical” answer to the problem of health-care funding in economically advanced societies. Certainly the ruling elite in this not-very-democratic country is convinced that Singapore is the epitome of a rational, technocratic state in which rule is based on supposedly impartial, objective criteria. The government's achievements in the delivery of health care are at the forefront of its showcase of technocratic achievements. This article uses the Singapore government's innovations in health-care funding as a case study to explore and test the limitations of trying to apply purist technocratic premises and methodologies to governance. The limitations it uncovers raise the question of whether a technocratic approach to governance can ever deliver the promised results and suggests that the attraction of “technocracy” is a chimera.

Global ruling class: Billionaires and how they “make it”

Abstract: While the number of the world's billionaires grew from 793 in 2006 to 946 in 2007, major mass uprisings became commonplace occurrences in China and India. In India, which has the highest number of ...

Towards a Sociological Understanding of Islamic Radicalism in Indonesia

Abstract: Political Islam has emerged as a focus of world attention since the World Trade Centre attacks in September 2001. A broader interest pre-dates this, however, because just several years after the en...

Do Manufacturing Firms in China Innovate

Abstract: This article provides empirical light on the debate concerning whether manufacturing firms in China are becoming major innovators. Based on an innovation survey carried out in Jiangsu Province, the article finds that most firms engage in innovative activities but these are mainly of an incremental nature. Radical innovation, as a proportion of sales, is relatively low if compared internationally. Innovation in China is mainly to catch-up and is novel relative to the firm and the domestic market. A small proportion of innovation is new to the world. Intensity and productivity indicators suggest that small, foreign and textile firms are leading innovative efforts. Firms innovate to improve their general competitiveness, including improving product quality and extending market share, obtain income from technology and defend themselves from research and development expenditure by competitors. Innovators value significantly more than non-innovators the range of innovative objectives they seek to achie...

The Second Wave of Indian Investments Abroad

Abstract: This article makes an assessment of the recent international expansion of Indian companies by contrasting it to the earlier – much more modest – wave of investments abroad. It also traces the evolution of the Indian government's policy towards outwards investments and makes the claim that an important reason for the rise of investments abroad is the gradual relaxation of the Indian government's restrictions on capital outflow after the economic reforms of the 1990s. The new Indian investments abroad are characterised by being dispersed over a very large number of countries and economic sectors and – most remarkable – Indian companies are now also targeting the markets in Europe and the USA through acquisitions of local companies. At the same time, Indian companies have continued to expand their presence in other developing countries, where their activities may contribute to both economic progress and a reduction of economic dependence on relations with developed countries.

“Poverty's Fall”/China's Rise: Global Convergence or New Forms of Uneven Development?

Abstract: This article critically assesses the relationship between the claimed fall in global poverty and the rise of China in recent years. It questions the mainstream “pro-globalisation” argument, which suggests that there is a causal link between neo-liberal, “pro-globalisation” policies, and falling poverty and rising China. It is argued instead that the evidence concerning poverty reduction is ambiguous, and it is not the case that the most successful developers have adopted pro-globalisation policies. This latter contention is examined through consideration of the relationship between Chinese development and globalisation, with particular emphasis on the “transnationalisation” of capital and the rise of global commodity chains, and how this has produced new forms of uneven development in the global economy.

Global Constitutionalism and Judicial Activism in Taiwan

Abstract: In sociological research, law is usually considered as either a variable independent of the force of social change or a variable dependent on its shaping and moulding. Any changes in law, if not caused by social change, must be its effects. The post-1980s activism of the Council of Grand Justices (the Judicial Yuan) marked the emergence of what might be called the “global new constitutionalism” in Taiwanese society. Claiming a holistic concept of citizenship, the Grand Justices revamped the anachronistic pseudo-democratic mechanism through the medium of constitution interpretations. In order to facilitate democratic consolidation, the Grand Justices also painstakingly amended earlier versions of administrative law to facilitate the development of a reliable bureaucracy and enhanced public administration. As the battle for enhancing administrative accountability complicated the interplay between the judicial activists and other political actors, judicial activism unexpectedly linked to processes o...

The Regulatory Role of Social Policy: Macao's Social Security Development

Abstract: Central to the regulation theory of social policy is the argument that the welfare state has played a key role in the maintenance of the proper working of capitalism Starting from the core argument of the theory, this article attempts to demonstrate that the Social Security Fund, a cornerstone of Macao's social security system, achieved three major regulatory functions in relation to the perpetuation of capitalism from the establishment of the fund in 1990 to 2005: legitimisation, reproduction and disciplinisation There was a watershed year in 2002 in which the predominant regulatory forms displayed a qualitative shift from legitimisation to reproduction and disciplinisation The shift is explained in terms of different interplays of the political and economic forces within the basic structural constraint of the capitalist social system

Misreading Mao: On Class and Class Struggle

Abstract: It has been argued frequently that Mao Zedong's thought is a significant departure from classical Marxism. This break, usually dated from the mid-1950s, supposedly occurred in two areas. First, the primacy of the economic characteristic of orthodox Marxism was replaced by a “voluntarism,” which emphasised politics and consciousness. Secondly, whereas classes are defined in economic terms in the classical Marxist tradition, Mao defined them by reference to political behaviour and ideological viewpoint. This definition derives from the primacy Mao is said to have accorded to the superstructure. This article rejects the second of these interpretations and argues that a fundamental continuity exists between Mao's post-1955 propositions on classes and class struggle and those advanced by orthodox Marxism. In conformity with classical Marxism, Mao conceived of classes as economic categories. Further, both Mao and classical Marxism saw classes as active participants in class struggle in the superstructu...

State and Social Citizenship in Japan

Abstract: One World of Welfare: Japan in Contemporary Perspective Gregory Kasza (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006) Japan's Dual Civil Society: Members Without Activities Robert Pekkanen (Stanford: Stan...

Haven under erasure?: Hong Kong, global Asia and human rights

Abstract: Discussions of Hong Kong's human rights situation tend to focus on the ex-colony's struggle to protect civil and political rights against the encroachment of the Chinese state Without contradicting the well-grounded concern with Hong Kong's human rights future articulated in these discussions, this article offers a complementary narrative of human rights development in post-1997 Hong Kong that looks beyond the national frame of such discussions Drawing attention to Hong Kong's position as a regional centre in the struggle for human rights in Asia under globalisation, the article argues that the activities of local and transnational human rights advocacy groups in the city show positive and promising possibilities of coalitional solidarity on the ground of human rights Notably, the protests against national security legislation opened up opportunities of articulating diverse struggles for the rights of various social groups, including migrant groups, with the local struggle for civil and politi

Taking the bait: Maoists and the democratic lure in Nepal

Abstract: After leading a tumultuous revolutionary people's war for a decade, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has slithered into a peace process and is being egged on to put the revolution to the vote. Maoists themselves are sending mixed signals about whether or not they are going to take the democratic bait to save the “beautiful” democratic, peace process from the “beastly” people's war, urban insurrection and revolution. My contention is that unless the lie of the liberal political process is identified in its most democratic, free and fair forms and not just in its secret, conspiratorial underside, the Maoists might be lured into an unbalanced democratic game. The article argues that the Maoists were not just pushed into this political process by force of circumstance, as the best possible option, “given the international and national situation,” but it seems to follow from their flawed understanding that the present political process constitutes a progressive phase in the path to a New Democrat...