The Unruly Past: History and Historiography of the 1932 Thai Revolution

ABSTRACT

The monarchy and the country’s military dominate discussions of Thai political history. The country’s democratic history meanwhile is much less well known. To many people, historiography – the history of the writing of history – is a dull affair that only concerns academics. But the changing representations of the origins of democracy in the 1932 revolution that ended the absolute monarchy show the politics of history as a continuous problem that still shapes Thai society. The interpretations have been bound to the bitter partisanship that has accompanied a history of political instability. This article examines the changing interpretations of 1932 in their historical contexts and demonstrates the central antagonism towards the ideal of popular sovereignty, despite its long history in the country, that is still held by the military and monarchic elite.     

泰爱泰党的崛起与泰国政党格局的变化

秦爱泰党成立仅四年,却不但获得了执政党地位,更迅速壮大成为泰国第一大党,并正在彻底改变着泰国长期以来小党林立的政党格局.本文对这一现象的背景、成因、前景进行了分析.     

The 2014 Thai Coup and Some Roots of Authoritarianism

ABSTRACT

Thailand is the only country currently ruled by a coup-installed military government. The 2014 coup aimed not only to abolish the influence of Thaksin Shinawatra but also to shift Thailand’s politics in an authoritarian direction. While the army authored the coup, the professional and official elite played a prominent role in engineering the coup and shaping political reforms. This article examines some historical antecedents of this authoritarian turn, first in the broad trends of Thailand’s modern political history, and second in the emergence and political evolution of the Bangkok middle class.     

The establishment of South Korean-Chinese diplomatic relations: A South Korean perspective

This article examines the process leading to establishment of the diplomatic relationship between South Korea and China in 1992. For that purpose, the article reviews first the Northern Policy of the Sixth Republic of Korea, whose major aim was to improve South Korea’s relations with the then socialist and communist countries, including the Soviet Union. Next the focus moves to the secret negotiations between South Korea and China. One of the major arguments of the article is that the expansion of commercial and trade relations between South Korea and China plus the end of the cold war contributed to the establishment of diplomatic relationships between the two neighbors.     

A critique of South Africa: The solution

South Africa: The Solution by LEON LOUVV and FRANCES KENDALL Amagi Publications, Bisho (Ciskei), 1986. xvi plus 237 pages including maps, figures, diagrams, illustrations, notes, appendices and bibliography. R14,95 paperback.     

A critique of South Africa: The solution

South Africa: The Solution by Leon Louw and Frances Kendall Amagi Publications, Bisho (Ciskei), 1986. xvi plus 237 pages including maps, figures, diagrams, illustrations, notes, appendices and bibliography. R14,95 paperback.     

泰国佛教介入政治冲突的表现形式及其原因探析

从古至今,泰国不断有佛教介入政治冲突的事件,佛教积极介入政治的方式是僧人干政,消极介入的方式是以接纳政客出家的方式为其提供庇护。从政客角度来看,是为了获取宗教庇护、积累功德以及保护自身名誉;从佛门人士来看,是为了在政治斗争中利用宗教身份为自己迅速树立权威;从佛教教义和佛教在泰国的本土化特征来看,佛教论证了国王的政治权威的合法性,从根本上与政治相连。泰国的佛教在历史舞台中展现出功能性和世俗性的特点,这些特点为佛教介入政治冲突事件提供了土壤。泰国佛教观念留出的阐释空间为佛教赢得了强大的生命力,它不断被人们用来建构泰国社会的象征权威,这是催生出政教乱象的根本原因。     

解读泰国广告的民族文化特色

泰国广告一方面吸收了西方广告先进的制作技术,另一方面充分挖掘本民族文化与民族特性,以其独特的泰式幽默及浓厚的民族性,在全球广告界形成了独树一帜的风格.本文拟通过广告这一"窗口",通过具体广告案例,解读泰民族文化特色与民族心理特质.     

After the euphoria: The United States and South Africa in the 1990s

The United States welcomed the recent transition in South Africa and has worked closely with the new government since April 1994. Traditional American interest in South Africa was motivated first by opposition to communism and then by opposition to apartheid. However, the demise of those systems as well as uncertainties regarding South Africa's transition make it doubtful that the US will give the country as much attention in the next several years. In the more distant future shared interests are likely to bring the United States and South Africa closer.     

Explaining South Africa’s land reform policy failure through its instruments: the emergence of inclusive agricultural business models

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to explain the emergence of South African inclusive agricultural business models in relation to the land reform policy. We demonstrate that in South Africa such policy instruments linking small-scale and large-scale farmers respond to endogenous dynamics linked to the failure of its land reform policy. We study the land reform policy change induced by its policy instruments. Indeed, introducing the market as the preferred means to implement land reform caused unanticipated side effects, creating constant pressure for change that such inadequate instrument exerted on the set policy objectives during the first phase of policy implementation. After cohabitating uneasily with rather antagonistic policy goals, policy instruments ultimately led to a change in policy objectives, shifting from supporting small-scale black subsistence agriculture to targeting a class of emerging farmers committed to commercial agriculture. Inclusive Business Model’s policy instruments were subsequently identified as the best fit to achieve the re-adjusted policy goal.     

Debating Economic Democracy in South Korea: The Costs of Commensurability

ABSTRACT:

In the 2012 Korean presidential election, both liberal and conservative parties fought their campaigns on the slogan of “economic democratization,” marking a strong departure from past presidential elections and the growth-first policies of the then-incumbent conservative administration. Both parties pledged to tackle growing social polarization and the concentration of economic power by reforming the corporate governance of Korea's large, family-led conglomerates (chaebol), to the degree that chaebol reform itself became synonymous with economic democratization. This focus led to a series of heated exchanges among liberal-left reformers about the vision of economic democratization being promoted, with one camp favoring the creation of a “fair market” through the restructuring of the chaebol and another promoting the protection of the chaebol’s management rights over their affiliates as a desirable strategy for the creation of a Korean welfare state. This essay examines the long-standing tensions between these two liberal-left perspectives and argues that the capital-centric and market-based visions these camps promoted risk confining intellectual debate over the meaning of economic democracy within boundaries that serve dominant political interests.