Nov 25, 2014

Nov 24, 2014

Nov 17, 2014

Forthcoming Seminars: What Voters Want: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Thailand by Dr Allen Hicken (17 Nov 2014 (Monday)


What Voters Want:
Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Thailand
Dr Allen Hicken Associate Professor of Political Science Research Associate Professor at
the Center for Political Studies, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies University of Michigan







Date: 17 November 2014 (Monday)
Time: 4 pm – 5:30 pm
Venue: G5-131, AC1, City University of Hong Kong

Nov 7, 2014

Oct 31, 2014

SEARC annoucement (31st Oct 2014)

YCAR/ABMP Short-Term Postdoctoral Visitor in Asian Governance
York University, Toronto
The York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR) invites applications for a short-term (four month) post-doctoral fellowship in Asian Governance. The successful applicant will have completed a PhD within the last four years and will be developing a research and publication program related to contemporary local, national or transnational governance in Asia.
Review of applications for the 2015 fellowship will begin on October 31, 2014.  The expectation is that the postdoctoral visitor appointed will likely take up the fellowship in the Winter term (January-April) of 2015.
For further information, please contact: ycar@yorku.ca.
Applications should be emailed to ycar@yorku.ca with the subject line Postdoctoral Visitor in Asian Governance.

Call for Papers - Graduate Student Conference, "Identities in the Making: Dutch Colonialisms and Postcolonial Presents"
Sponsored by the Dutch Studies Program, UC Berkeley
Date/Time: December 3 - 4, 2014
Location: University of California, Berkeley
Participants have the opportunity to submit their papers, in extended and annotated form, to the peer-reviewed journal Dutch Crossing, which will publish a selection of the conference proceedings.
Keynote Speaker: Rudolf Mrazek (Emeritus Professor of History, University of Michigan). Prof. Mrazek has published extensively on the history of colonial and modern Indonesia. He is the author of Engineers of Happy Land. Technology and Nationalism in a Colony (2002) andSjahrir: Politics and Exile in Indonesia (1994). Throughout the 1990s, Prof. Mrazek interviewed elderly Indonesian intellectuals about their memories of colonial Indonesia, which he collected in the unconventional A Certain Age. Colonial Jakarta through the Memories of its Intellectuals(2009). Prof. Mrazek will speak on December 3.
Panel Discussion: The conference will also include a panel discussion from the seminar 'Blackness in European Folklore Tradition �The Dutch Case: Black Pete' that will discuss the controversial Dutch blackface tradition of 'zwarte piet' from several perspectives and shed light on its historical and political contexts. With Dr. Kwame Nimako (UC Berkeley),Quinsy Gario (Dutch activist and artist, via Skype), and others. The panel will meet on December 4 at 6:00 p.m.
Students wishing to participate can send a 250�word abstract and a short CV todutchstudiesconference@gmail.com by November 1, 2014. Presentations should last no longer than 20 minutes.
For more information, contact:
Center for Southeast Asia Studies
UC Berkeley
1995 University Ave., No. 520H
Berkeley CA 94720-2318
Tel. (510) 642-3609; Fax (510) 643-7062
http://cseas.berkeley.edu

Inter-American Foundation (IAF) Grassroots Development Fellowship Program
http://www.iie.org/Programs/IAF-Grassroots-Development-Fellowship-Program

The deadline for applications for the 2015-2016 Fellowship Cycle of the IAF Grassroots Development Ph.D. Fellowship Program is JANUARY 20, 2015.

Fellowships are available to currently registered students who have advanced to candidacy (by the time research begins) for the Ph.D. in the social sciences, physical sciences, technical fields and the professions as related to grassroots development issues. Applications for clinical research in the health field will NOT be considered.

Awards are based on both development and scholarly criteria. Proposals should offer a practical orientation to field-based information. In exceptional cases the IAF will support research reflecting a primary interest in macro questions of politics and economics but only as they relate to the environment of the poor. The Fellowship Program complements IAF's support for grassroots development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and preference for those applicants whose careers or research projects are related to topics of greatest interest to the IAF.

Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology Early Career Award
ISEAA announces establishment of a new award of $1000 for early career Southeast Asian archaeologist. Nominees must have defended their dissertations and received their Ph.D. degree within the five year period from August 31, 2010 to September 1, 2015. For more information, please visit  http://www.iseaarchaeology.org/award-committee-announcement
Submission Deadline: December 1st, 2015

Activated Borders: Re-openings, Ruptures and Relationships
Dates: 8 - 10 December 2014
Venue: Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong
Keynote speech: Prof. Brantly Womack, University of Virginia, USA
The conference
All over Asia, international borders condition encounters between diverse ethnic, linguistic, economic, religious, and political groups. Recently, many formerly disregarded borders have been 'activated'. Some have become more permeable for people, goods and ideas. By contrast, elsewhere in Asia borders have actively hardened. Such border dynamics (which have a history of centuries) shape cross-border linkages and are in turn shaped by them. The 4th Asian Borderlands Research Conference in Hong Kong will feature papers and panels that address continuities and transformations along routes and borders in Asia, broadly related to the theme "Re-openings, Ruptures and Relationships."

Fifth International Conference on Lao Studies: Lao PDR in the ASEAN Context
The Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University and the Center for Lao Studies (CLS) are pleased to announce that the Fifth International Conference on Lao Studies (ICLS V) will be held from July 8 to 10, 2016 on the Tha Phrachan campus in Bangkok, Thailand. The main objective of the conference is to promote Lao studies, broadly defined, by providing an international forum for scholars to present and discuss various aspects of Lao Studies.
When: Friday, 08 July 2016 to Sunday, 10 July 2016
Where: Thammasat University; Bangkok, Thailand

Intensive Beginners Burmese Language Course, taught by Dr Justin Watkins of SOAS, University of London
Date: Nov. 3 - 7, 2014
Location: Barcelona, Spain
If you are planning a visit to Burma (Myanmar), are fascinated by Burmese culture or would simply like to learn some of the fascinating Burmese language, Casa Asia offers a unique opportunity: Dr Justin Watkins, expert in Burmese language and linguistics of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will teach this intensive beginners' course in Burmese language.

Oct 22, 2014

Oct 17, 2014

Oct 10, 2014

To know Thailand's by National Reform Council an Infographic made by @prachatai_en

@prachatai_en released an infographic which shows the composition of the newly formed National Reform Council (NRC) in Thailand.

 

Based on @prachatai_en search, the NRC in Thailand is dominated by civil servants (over 50% members are with a civil service background).

Here is the source image link:

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3948/15298213957_4df7d1d514_h.jpg

Oct 9, 2014

Oct 8, 2014

Oct 6, 2014

Oct 1, 2014

New article written by SEARC core member


Dr. Stephen Ortmann, a SEARC core member, has an article in the latest Taiwan Journal of Democracy.
The title is: Democratization and the Discourse on Stability in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Taiwan Journal of Democracy, Volume 10, No. 1: 123-145
Democratization and the Discourse on Stability in Hong Kong and Singapore
Stephan Ortmann

Abstract
Democrats in both Hong Kong and Singapore face a discourse on stability that is hostile to liberal democracy, but only activists in Hong Kong have successfully reframed this discourse to motivate potential supporters to actively push for democratization. The difference between the situations in Hong Kong and Singapore can be explained by the concept of collective action frames, which demonstrates that it is not sufficient to associate stability with democracy, for supporters also need to establish a motive for activism. The study shows that the success of reframing rests with the saliency of the notion that authoritarianism is a problem for stability, in part influenced by the degree of access to the media.
Keywords: Discourse on stability, opposition, Hong Kong, Singapore, collective action frames.

Sep 30, 2014

Sep 29, 2014

Sep 17, 2014

Sep 16, 2014

Sep 8, 2014

Sep 3, 2014

Sep 1, 2014

Aug 28, 2014

Aug 25, 2014

Aug 21, 2014

Aug 18, 2014

Aug 15, 2014

Aug 11, 2014

Aug 8, 2014

Aug 4, 2014

Jul 22, 2014

Jul 16, 2014

Jul 14, 2014

Jul 10, 2014

Quick review on Indonesia's president election by Vedi Hadiz and Richard Robison

New Mandala have a very good post-election review about two president candidates in Indonesia.

This is why the key question is how the new President will deal with the powerful interests that shape Indonesian politics and its economy as well as tackling entrenched corruption and political dysfunction. At a time of broad disillusionment across Indonesia society with the way democracy has evolved, both candidates are seen by their supporters to offer a way out.

However, neither Prabowo nor Jokowi represent a fundamental break with the past and neither possesses the resources to fully deliver on their rhetoric. Both have to operate within a powerful and complex system of oligarchy that enmeshes political authority and private wealth.

….

This means that his very alliance with the PDI-P may become an important liability. Although he is the candidate of that party, its support has been only grudgingly given by the grandees of the Sukarno family. One probable consequence of this is that Jokowi will find himself besieged by the demands of a family eager to maintain their authority over the party and to secure their share of the spoils, including key Ministries in the new government for their acolytes.

In these sorts of struggles, his only real bargaining chip is his popularity. So we can expect a continuation of his strategies in Solo and Jakarta to broaden access to social services, overcome bureaucratic inertia and build public infrastructure.

Jul 9, 2014

Jul 8, 2014

Jul 5, 2014

Jul 3, 2014

Jun 30, 2014

Jun 23, 2014

The problem of Cambodian People’s Party: authoritarianism

As a political party in an authoritarian country, the ruling style of the ruling party of course is authoritarian. However, as a party who face decline of popularity and rising opposition, the authoritarianism now become the obstacle not only to the country's own development but also to the party survival. Phoak Kung suggested the rooted problem of the Cambodian People's Party, authoritarianism, would eventually bring the party down.

Jun 19, 2014

Jun 18, 2014

Jun 16, 2014

Jun 9, 2014

Tough days for Thai's scholars: Thai Generals Go After Exiles and Academics - Asia Sentinel

Sadly, today Asia Sentinel informed us that the Thai junta pressured the Thai foreign ministry to force the overseas' academics going back to Thailand. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai academics in Kyoto, is the top priority, according to the article. We shared his article to SCMP about his view about the junta going after Thai scholars. Today, we shared the article in Asia Sentinel:

Jun 8, 2014

Jun 5, 2014

Jun 3, 2014

Jun 2, 2014

Jun 1, 2014

May 29, 2014