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International Aid Partnerships Amidst Myanmar’s Revolution: Solidarity or Self-Preservation and Compliance? Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-03-15 Tamas Wells, Pyae Phyo Maung
Along with its broader impact in the country, Myanmar’s 2021 coup and subsequent revolution have brought an upheaval amongst international aid agencies. As they have pivoted their programmes in the...
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The Social Origins of Capital: Trajectories of Accumulation at the Rural–Urban Interface in Pakistani Punjab Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-03-12 Muhammad Ali Jan
Recent scholarship on class formation in South Asia has drawn attention to consequential processes of capital accumulation taking place in provincial towns and in the countryside. This “provincial ...
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Epidemic Politics in Contemporary Vietnam: Public Health and the State Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-03-06 Minh Chau Lam
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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Still the “Opium of the Masses”? Religion and Labour Struggles in Indonesia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-02-26 Vedi R. Hadiz
The article links the literatures on Indonesian democracy, Islamic politics, and labour struggles through developments and contradictions in the sphere of ideology. It maintains that there is a con...
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The Cultural Political Economy of Knowledge in Neo-Liberal Indonesia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Inaya Rakhmani, Zulfa Sakhiyya
This article analyses the policy agendas and bureaucratic apparatuses that have shaped the norms and values directing knowledge production in neo-liberal Indonesia. It uses a Gramscian approach to ...
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Intimation of Revolution: Global Sixties and the Making of Bangladesh Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-01-19 Hasan Mahmud
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Ahead of Print, 2024)
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The Journal of Contemporary Asia Prize 2024 Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2024-01-10
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 1, 2024)
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Climate Breakdown in Pakistan: (Post) Colonial Capitalism on the Global Periphery Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-12-11 Aasim Sajjad Akhtar
Amongst the most devastating extreme weather events in recent years, the 2022 Pakistan floods ostensibly triggered a new-found urgency to reduce emissions and redress other underlying causes of hum...
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The Politics of Hindutva: Indian Democracy at the Crossroads Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-11-27 Ganeshdatta Poddar
Since the massive victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 parliamentary elections, India has seen an entrenchment of the politics of Hindutva, a political-cultural justification of ...
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Probing Arts and Emergent Forms of Life Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-10-13 Robin Visser
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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Thailand’s 2020–2021 Pro-Democracy Protests: Diversity, Conflict, and Solidarity Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-29 Wichuta Teeratanabodee
Beyond its popular characterisation as an “anti-monarchy youth movement,” Thailand’s 2020–2021 pro-democracy movement brought together a diverse range of agendas, including feminism, poverty, and e...
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Brewing the Global Shift: Variegated Capitalism, Firm Strategies, and the Restructuring of the Southeast Asian Beer Industry Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-19 Hege Merete Knutsen, Arve Hansen, Ulrikke Wethal, Manoj Potapohn
Asia has become the world’s largest beer-consuming region, and Southeast Asia sees the strongest growth in demand. While the Asian beer industry attracts investments from global and regional capita...
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Perfect Pretext: Populist Authoritarian Seizure of Pandemic Emergency Powers in India and the Philippines Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-11 Leonora C. Angeles, Wajiha Mehdi
Abstract Using Frankfurt School Critical Theory, we examine the political outcomes of how Asian populist authoritarian regimes seized the COVID-19 pandemic context for regime maintenance and power consolidation. The pandemic revealed interesting India-Philippines parallels highlighting three inter-connected political-economic development patterns contextualising analogous state responses to COVID-19
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Entrepreneurial Women in a Saturated Marketplace: How Gendered Power Shapes Experiences of Debt in Rural Cambodia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-12 Alice Beban
Abstract Debt can be both a path to freedom and prosperity and a source of exploitation. This article analyses the embodied debt relations of rural shop owners in Cambodia to show how gender, class, and ethnic relations of power shape people’s ability to benefit from micro-credit. Drawing on 25 interviews with rural shop owners, the article analyses how the expansion of micro-finance loans for Khmer
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Zombie Apocalypse and the Crisis of Global Capitalism: Class, Precarious Work, and Environment Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-11 Khorapin Phuaphansawat
Abstract Zombies have always represented sharp criticisms of state and capital. From their roots in slavery in the Caribbean colonies to George Romero’s zombie films, which can be read as criticisms of racism and consumerism, this article proposes that zombies have embodied both the “mindless” labourer deprived of soul and forced to work eternally as well as the fetishised consumer in a capitalist
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Contentious Acts in Controlled Spaces: A Protest Event Analysis of Singaporean Demonstrations Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-11 Luke Stephens
Abstract Maintaining its hegemonic role in Singapore has been one of the defining features of the People’s Action Party (PAP) rule since the country gained independence in 1965. To quell rising frustrations resulting from its wide-reaching control, the party has overseen a series of limited liberalisations, including the 2008 introduction of legalised protests. However, in recent years the PAP has
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The Origins of Collaborative Governance in South Korea: An Analysis of the First Ten Years After Democratisation Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-11 Sunhyuk Kim, Chonghee Han
Abstract South Korea’s transition to democracy in 1987 was driven by social movements. The grand democracy coalition included the opposition party and various civic associations, including student groups, labour unions, and religious organisations. Civil society continued to pressure the post-transitional governments to dismantle authoritarian structures and remove undemocratic practices. Political
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Dissident Labour Activism in Vietnam Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-09-11 Anh-Susann Pham Thi
Abstract Scholars of Vietnam have studied different forms of labour resistance such as wildcat strikes, petitions, complaints, work stoppages, and boycotts, with which workers demand higher wages and pensions, overall better working conditions, and the implementation of workers’ rights. This article pays attention to the small, yet not negligible group of dissident labour activists, who are subjected
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Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World Without Democracy. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-08-24 Richard Westra
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Ahead of Print, 2023)
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The Capital Order. How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-07-14 Scott MacWilliam
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 2, 2024)
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Provoking Civilian Disruption against Popular Protests: The Myanmar Military’s Counter-Mobilisation Strategies Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-06-26 Mai Van Tran
Abstract While mass contentious movements face a wide range of state-led counter-mobilisation strategies, existing studies have mainly focused on repression by the security forces and violence contractors. Much less is understood about the impact of governments’ more deceptive strategies to provoke anti-protester hostility among the public, including labelling protesters as criminals and engineering
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The Politics of Knowledge and Social Cash Transfers: The Constitutive Effects of An Anti-Poverty Regime In Indonesia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-06-23 John McCarthy, Gerben Nooteboom, Shaummil Hadi, Pande Made Kutanegara, Nulwita Muliati
Abstract Recent decades have witnessed the globalisation of policies promoting social cash transfers as a critical instrument for poverty reduction. Among various approaches, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) model promoted by the World Bank has gained discursive dominance in countries where this strategy, and its technical model for implementation, appear more attractive than competing alternatives
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Our Lives in Their Portfolios: Why Asset Managers Own the World. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-06-19 Richard Westra
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 2, 2024)
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The Parcelled State: A Political and Historical Framework for the Current Intra-State Crisis in Turkey Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-05-12 Ahmet Bekmen
Abstract This article puts Turkey’s current state crisis into a historical perspective. During the transition to neo-liberalism after the hegemony crisis of the late 1970s, a critical objective for those in the high echelons of bureaucracy and ruling politicians was to ensure the security of state apparatuses. However, the policies implemented to achieve this led to fragmentation in both the state
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Vegetarianism, Meat and Modernity in India. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-05-09 Kenneth Bo Nielsen
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 2, 2024)
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High Modernism and Populism in Post-War Japan: Tanaka Kakuei’s Plan for Remodelling the Japanese Archipelago Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-04-18 Taro Tsuda
Abstract A sweeping proposal to re-orient development from Japan’s metropolitan core to its peripheries, Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei’s 1972 “Plan to Remodel the Japanese Archipelago” was published as a bestselling book and helped propel Tanaka to the premiership. This article argues that the Plan was part of an innovative style of politics that defies a standard dichotomy of technocracy and populism
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A Prize for the Village Ruling Class: “Village Funds” and Class Dynamics in Rural Indonesia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-04-12 Fajar Sidik, Muchtar Habibi
Abstract The Village Fund in Indonesia has been praised as a breakthrough policy in eradicating rural poverty. This article, based on a study of a “best practice village” in central Java, however, reveals that the Village Fund has simply facilitated the triumph of the village ruling class. Though village political institutions have adopted good governance measures (participation, transparency, accountability
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Litigating Equal Pay for Equal Work in Japan, 2012–2020 Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-03-31 Charles Weathers, Shinji Kojima, Scott North
Abstract Litigation and courts have been important arbiters of labour policy reforms aimed at redressing Japan’s growing social inequality. This article considers seven lawsuits brought by non-regular workers, who sought to use Article 20 of the 2012 Labour Contracts Act to gain equal pay for equal work. All seven cases reached Japan’s Supreme Court amid Abe Shinzō’s 2018 labour reforms. The Court’s
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L’Asie du Sud-Est 2022: bilan, enjeux et perspectives [Southeast Asia 2022: assessment, challenges and perspectives]. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-03-09 Gabriel Camară
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 1, 2024)
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Highways to the End of the World. Roads, Roadmen and Power in South Asia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-03-06 Hasan H. Karrar
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 1, 2024)
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Double Poverty: Class, Employment Type, Gender and Time Poor Precarious Workers in the South Korean Service Economy Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-03-01 Taehwan Kim, Sophia Seung-Yoon Lee
Abstract Double poverty refers to the lack of both time and income. This study analyses precarious workers’ double poverty, focusing on the case of South Korea, where the characteristics of its labour market perpetuate the risk of double poverty. This study set less than two-thirds of the median free time and less than two-thirds of the median income as poverty lines. Using Korean Labour & Income Panel
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Ideological Contestation and Gender Policy Reforms in Post-Reformasi Indonesia Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-02-23 Muhammad Ammar Hidayahtulloh
Abstract The shifting ideological centre of gravity from what has been termed “democratic cosmopolitanism” to “religious nationalism” in Indonesia and its impacts on diverse areas of policymaking has been a subject of scholarly debate. This article investigates how these ideological developments affect gender policy reforms in post-Reformasi Indonesia. To do so, it develops a framework to examine ideological
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Bruce McFarlane (1936–2022) Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-02-16 Kevin Hewison
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 3, 2023)
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Pacific Islands Guestworkers in Australia. The New Blackbirds? Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-02-06 Scott MacWilliam
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 1, 2024)
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Skills and Training in Hierarchical Capitalism: The Rise and Fall of Vocational Training in South Korea Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-02-01 Timo Fleckenstein, Soohyun Christine Lee, Jaehyoung Park
From an economic model in which education and growth reinforced each other, South Korea has developed a pathological equilibrium holding back economic and social progress. Low labour productivity a...
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Amnesia. A History of Democratic Idealism in Modern Thailand Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-01-25 Kevin Hewison
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 54, No. 1, 2024)
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Thai Youth Liberation as a Politico-Economic Force: A Critique of Hierarchical Capitalism and the Authoritarian State Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-01-20 Chyatat Supachalasai
Abstract This article argues that the 2020–2022 youth liberation movement in Thailand represents a crucial politico-economic force calling for an alternative version of Thai capitalism. In contrast to existing literature that views the contest between young protesters and the military-backed government as a generation division and national polarisation, this article argues that the movement is a catalyst
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Is Indonesian Police Violence Excessive? The Dynamics of Police Shootings, 2005–2014 Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-01-12 Jacqui Baker, Rus’an Nasrudin
In Indonesia, debates about police use of force occur in the absence of data, with empirical and theoretical consequences for how the problem of police shootings is framed and understood. This arti...
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Twin Movement: State, Market and the Non-Elite Middle Class in Post-Reform India Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2023-01-05 Surya Prakash Upadhyay, Isha Jha
This article explores political economic developments in India’s post-reform period that began in 1991 through the interactions of the non-elite, ordinary middle-class Indians and state institution...
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The Journal of Contemporary Asia Prize 2023 Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-12-05
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 1, 2023)
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A Case of Rampaging Elephants: The Politics of the Middle Classes in Small-Town Pakistan Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-11-18 Asha Amirali
This article draws on a year of ethnographic fieldwork with traders in a Pakistani agricultural commodity market. It analyses their business and wider networking strategies to show how they – as a ...
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Outsiders: Memories of Migration to and from North Korea Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-11-08 Hui Wang
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 4, 2023)
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A Soldier King. Monarchy and Military in the Thailand of Rama X. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-11-08 Kevin Hewison
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 4, 2023)
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Beggar Bosses on the Streets of Dhaka Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-11-03 David Jackman
Public characterisations of begging tend in two directions: destitution or fraud. On the one hand begging is portrayed as largely disorganised, and on the other, criminally organised. Based on rare...
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Cultivating Democracy: Politics and Citizenship in Agrarian India Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-10-13 Kenneth Bo Nielsen
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 4, 2023)
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Democratisation and Social Conflict in Timor-Leste: A Not So Great Transformation Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-10-11 Stepan Verkhovets, Selver B. Sahin
The idea of democratic state-building constituted the basis of the peace promotion engagement of the United Nations and other international agencies in Timor-Leste. Yet, this process of internation...
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Peter Limqueco (1939–2022) Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-10-06 Kevin Hewison
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 52, No. 5, 2022)
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The Struggle for Hegemony in Pakistan: Fear, Desire and Revolutionary Horizons Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-10-07 Danish Khan
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 3, 2023)
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Gambling on Development: Why Some Countries Win and Others Lose Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-09-15 Scott MacWilliam
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 3, 2023)
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The Fulfilment of Election Pledges in India Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-09-05 Pankaj Adhikari, Sania Mariam, Robert Thomson
The central idea of promissory representation is that parties make promises to voters during election campaigns and then fulfil those promises after elections if they have the power to do so. Until...
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States, Civilisations and the Reset of World Order. Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-09-02 Kevin Hewison
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 3, 2023)
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Politics Through Precarity: Tech Workers’ Unions in India During the Covid-19 Pandemic Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-08-26 Rianka Roy
The Indian technology industry is an economic asset for the State. Successive governments and corporations identify tech workers as privileged and their mobilisation as unnecessary. High-skilled te...
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Ethnic Domination under Liberal Democracy in Sri Lanka Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-08-26 Rajesh Venugopal
How is ethnic domination produced, legitimised, and sustained under conditions of liberal democracy? This article engages with this problem and provides a re-conceptualisation that draws on the exp...
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COVID-19 and the Pathologies of Australia’s Regulatory State Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-08-12 Tom Chodor, Shahar Hameiri
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has elicited a wide range of national responses with an even wider range of outcomes in terms of infections and mortalities. Australia is a rare success story, keeping deaths comparatively low, and infections too, until the Omicron wave. What explains Australia’s success? Typical explanations emphasise leaders’ choices. We agree, but argue that leaders’ choices, and whether
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On His Majesty’s Service: Why is the Thai Foreign Ministry Royalist? Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-08-08 Pavin Chachavalpongpun
In the final decade of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej reign, various state agencies lined up to defend the monarchy against political opponents. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was one of those...
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Indonesia’s New Developmental State: Interrogating Participatory Village Governance Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-08-05 Muhammad Syukri
This article analyses the implementation of the New Developmental State in Indonesian politics and development as the realisation of the increasing authoritarianism of President Joko Widodo’s admin...
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Death from Overwork in a Time of Pandemic: How Delivery Work Became a Locus of Public Debate in South Korea Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-07-19 Yuki Asahina, Jaeseog Yang
Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, the plight of delivery workers suddenly became a locus of public debate. On the surface, this seems puzzling. Although the severely exploitative working conditions of delivery workers have been endemic for decades, these conditions had never before caused a society-wide controversy. Drawing insights from Jeffrey Alexander’s theory of societalisation
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Compressed Development: Time and Timing in Economic Development Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-06-21 Nahee Kang
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 2, 2023)
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Closed Loop, Open Borders: Wealth Inequality and Uneven and Combined Development In India Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-06-21 Anthony P. D’Costa
Abstract The purpose of this article is to offer an alternative perspective to worsening wealth disparity in India. It does so by critically applying the framework of uneven and combined development in a novel way. It develops two analytical constructs based on internal and external forces that collectively contribute to increasing wealth inequality. The internal force is a closed loop in which the
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Love and Death of King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand Journal of Contemporary Asia (IF 1.882) Pub Date : 2022-06-06 Mark S. Cogan
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Vol. 53, No. 2, 2023)