BOOK CHAPTER: Ontological Politics of the Resource Frontier: A Hydrosocial Analysis of the Mekong River in Northern Thailand

Publication date: November 2022

Publication: Extracting Development: Contested Resource Frontiers in Mainland Southeast Asia

Chapter title: Ontological Politics of the Resource Frontier: A Hydrosocial Analysis of the Mekong River in Northern Thailand

Authors: Thianchai Surimas and Carl Middleton

Editors: Oliver Tappe and Simon Rowedder

See more details on the book here.

In this chapter, in the context of the severe drought of 2019 and 2020, we examine the resource politics of the Mekong River in Northern Thailand as revealed through the practices, narratives, and knowledge productions of several competing networks that shape the Mekong River as a resource frontier. These include the community and civil society movement led Ing Peoples Council, and the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation. Our conceptual approach reflects the growing recognition of the heterogeneity of water cultures and histories (or ‘water worlds’) in recent academic literature, and the multiple ontologies of water that underpin them. This leads to our interest in how resource politics at the resource frontier reveal an enactment of multiple ontologies and their ontological politics, whereby human actors compete to further their own interests by naturalizing their ontology while marginalizing others. Overall, we argue that politics at the resource frontier are ontological politics contesting the very meaning of the Mekong River and its future form, be it as embedded in and patterning the socio-cultural relations of riverside communities in Northern Thailand, or as part of an ecological modernization and economic integration and growth agenda as envisioned by the region’s governments.

Please contact Dr. Carl Middleton for more information.

Citation: Surimas, T. and Middleton, C. (2022) “Ontological Politics of the Resource Frontier: A Hydrosocial Analysis of the Mekong River in Northern Thailand” (pp 28-48) in Tappe, O. and Rowedder, Sand (eds.) Extracting Development: Contested Resource Frontiers in Mainland Southeast Asia. ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute: Singapore

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Higher education institution, SDG2 and agri- food sustainability: lessons from Chulalongkorn University and Thailand

Publication date: October 2021

Publication: Environment, Development and Sustainability

Authors: Wayne Nelles, Supawan Visetnoi, Carl Middleton, Thita Orn- in

Abstract:

This paper examines higher education efforts linking United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) and agri- food system sustainability given reports of stagnant movement for SDG2 in Southeast Asia and lack of data for effective monitoring or evaluation to realize the 2030 Agenda. It discusses Thai contexts amid a growing global movement in academic theory, policy and practice to mainstream SDG knowledge and implementation across campuses presenting one case to illustrate broader concerns. Chulalongkorn University policies, faculty awareness, curricula, research, sustainability reporting and partnerships about SDGs have contributed to SDG2 objectives from different disciplines and academic units. However, some faculty still lack understanding of SDGs generally while SDG2 has not been an institutional priority. The university has made welcome progress since 2017 policy promoting SDGs but still needs to strengthen SDG2 data collection, teaching, research and community outreach capacities including links to governement and international reporting to address complex agri- food system sustainability challenges. Comparative studies could also help while critically debating SDG deficiencies and promoting socioeconomic, ecological, agri- food system, community and campus sustainability.

Keywords: Higher education institutions, SDG2, Chulalongkorn University, sustainable agri- food system, Sufficiency economy philosophy, Thailand

Read the article here.

BOOK CHAPTER: State, NGOs, and Villagers: How the Thai Environmental Movement Fell Silent

Publication date:
2021

Publication:
Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene

Chapter Title:
State, NGOs, and Villagers: How the Thai Environmental Movement Fell Silent

Author:
Jakkrit Sangkhamanee

Editors:
Paul Jobin, Ming- sho Ho and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao

For further details on the book and how to purchase, please visit the book's website here. You can also access the chapter individually from the link above.

Abstract

In this chapter, I shed some light on the dynamism of environmental movements in Thailand, focusing on the shifting relations between keys actors as they seek to situate their political agenda within national environmental politics.

The case of Thailand provides an insight into the important relationship between environmental social movements and political spaces that alternate between the confined and the dynamic. On the one hand, environmental movements can be considered as a driving force in the process of democratization at large, the idea popularized by new social movement scholars during the 1990s and 2000s. On the other hand, the context of political regimes in which environmental movements operate also shapes the nature of their advocating agenda and actions. The dualistic relations between these two spheres of operation often fluctuate, influenced by the changing relations between diverse actors. As this chapter has illustrated, Thailand’s environmental politics during the past few decades can be described as a triangulated relation, fundamentally shaped by the ever-changing state, civil society organizations, and citizens.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Shaping ocean governance: a study of EU normative power on Thailand’s sustainable fisheries

Publication date: 22 June 2020

Publication: International Economics and Economic Policy

Authors: Ajaree Tavornmas, Kasira Cheeppensook

Abstract:

The European Union (EU) has been championing an agenda for better ocean governance based on a cross-sectoral, rules-based international approach and indicated its role as a strong global actor in this field. The EU, as reflected through its strategies adopted during the last decade (2005–2015), aims to shape international ocean governance on the basis of its experience in developing a sustainable and ethical approach to ocean management, notably through its environment policy and regulatory regime. This paper observes a significant transition of the EU internal policy towards a more externally-oriented one as well as its ambition in exporting the EU norms to third countries. It seems that the EU aims to lead this maritime and fisheries domain as a global actor, diffusing norms via interstate relations. The case study of EU policy towards Thailand fisheries policy, resulting in Thailand’s adopting sustainable fisheries policy in 2015 will be explored in this research paper. In addition, the paper aims to analyse the development and evolution of Thailand’s sustainable fisheries policy during 2015–2019 and to examine the rationales behind Thailand’s shift towards more environmentally and socially friendly fisheries policy. It focuses on how and in what ways Thailand as a third country has been influenced by the EU normative power in the maritime and fisheries domain and in particular, by the EU’s illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) or “IUU Regulation” entered into force since 2010 as one of its main tools to promote ocean governance.

Keywords: Ocean governance, European Union (EU), Normative power, EU illegal, Unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) regulation, Sustainability, Sustainable fisheries, Thailand

See the article here.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: The Salween River as a transboundary commons: Fragmented collective action, hybrid governance and power

Publication date: 28 July 2020

Publication: Asia Pacific Viewpoint

Authors: Diana Suhardiman, Carl Middleton

Abstract:

Viewing the Salween River as a transboundary commons, this paper illustrates how diverse state and non‐state actors and institutions in hybrid and multi‐scaled networks have influenced water governance in general, and large dam decision‐making processes in particular. Putting power relations at the centre of this analysis and drawing on the conceptual lenses of hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, we show the complexity of the fragmented processes through which decisions have been arrived at, and their implications. In the context of highly asymmetrical power relations throughout the basin, and the absence of an intergovernmental agreement to date, we argue that hybrid networks of state and non‐state actors could be strategically engaged to connect parallel and fragmented decision‐making landscapes with a goal of inclusively institutionalising the transboundary commons and maintaining connected local commons throughout the basin, foregrounding a concern for ecological and social justice.

Keywords: China, large hydropower dams, limited statehood, Myanmar, Thailand, water governance

See the article here.

ธรรมชาติเชิงวิพากษ์: การท่องเที่ยวชุมชนในประเทศไทย: ผลกระทบและการฟื้นฟูจากการระบาดของโรค COVID-19

เรื่องโดย: อรพรรณ ปถมเล็ก*

[English version available here]

รถสองแถวบริการรับ-ส่งนักท่องเที่ยวระหว่างตัวเมืองระนอง-กะเปอร์

ล่องแพเปียกคลองลัดโนด เป็นกิจกรรมการท่องเที่ยวเชิงนิเวศน์ที่ได้รับความนิยมเป็นอย่างมากจากนักท่องเที่ยวทั้งชาวไทยและชาวต่างชาติ ซึ่งเป็นการออกแบบการท่องเที่ยวที่ผสมผสานระหว่างการผจญภัยอันน่าตื่นเต้นควบคู่ไปกับการอนุรักษ์ทรัพยากรธรรมชาติและสิ่งแวดล้อมผ่านการบริหารจัดการโดยสมาชิกในชุมชนภายใต้วิสาหกิจชุมชนท่องเที่ยวตำบลม่วงกลวง จ.ระนอง ชุมชนม่วงกลวงได้รับการชื่นชมยินดีสำหรับความพยายามกระตุ้นและผลักดันให้หน่วยงานราชการท้องถิ่นเข้ามามีส่วนร่วมในการช่วยเหลือทางด้านการประชาสัมพันธ์และการตลาดเพื่อให้เกิดการท่องเที่ยวและการกระจายรายได้แก่สมาชิกในชุมชน ผลสำเร็จนี้ปรากฏอย่างชัดเจนเมื่อวิสาหกิจชุมชนท่องเที่ยวชุนชนตำบลม่วงกลวงได้รับรางวัลอุตสาหกรรมการท่องเที่ยวไทย ครั้งที่ 12 ประจำปี 2562 ในสาขาแหล่งท่องเที่ยวชุมชนจากการท่องเที่ยวแห่งประเทศไทย

คลิ๊กที่นี่เพื่อดาวน์โหลดเอกสารฉบับเต็มในรูปแบบ PDF 

*สังกัด: ศูนย์เชี่ยวชาญเฉพาะทางด้านการเมืองทรัพยากรเพื่อการพัฒนาสังคม, ศูนย์ศึกษาเพื่อการพัฒนาสังคม คณะรัฐศาสตร์ จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย

*โครงการสร้างเสริมพลังจุฬาฯ ก้าวสู่ศตวรรษที่ 2 ช่วงที่ 2 ประเภท โครงการมหาวิทยาลัยกำหนดประเด็น (ครั้งที่1/2562) เรื่อง โครงการการพัฒนาการท่องเที่ยวเชิงสร้างสรรค์ โดย สำนักบริหารวิจัย ผ่านการบริหารโครงการวิจัยโดยสถาบันเอเชียศึกษา จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย

JOURNAL ARTICLE: How transboundary processes connect commons in Japan and Thailand: A relational analysis of global commodity chains and East Asian economic integration

Publication date: February 2020

Publication: Asia Pacific Viewpoint

Authors: Carl Middleton, Takeshi Ito

Abstract:

In this paper, with a focus on Japan and Thailand, we outline a relational environmental and economic history of East Asian economic integration (EAEI) and its implication for the commons in both places. We draw attention in particular to global commodity chains as relational processes not only of trade and investment, but also geopolitics and aid, to argue that these transborder processes have connected together commons in distant localities resulting in their simultaneous enclosure, dispossession and (re-)commoning with implications for community vulnerabilities in positive and negative ways. To demonstrate this argument we analyse three periods of EAEI: the late nineteenth century until World War II, when Japan and Thailand both began to modernise and new trade and geopolitical relations emerged in the context of colonialism; the post-World War II recovery until the Plaza Accord in 1986, during which time Japan rapidly industrialised, as did Thailand to a lesser extent and regionalism was largely defined by US hegemony; and the post-Plaza Accord period, when Japan deindustrialised its labour intensive manufacture and heavy industry and Thailand rapidly industrialised and EAEI became defined by new and intensified global commodity chains.

Keywords: (re-)commoning, dispossession, enclosure, environment–society relations

See the article here.