UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: New Research on COVID 19 and its Consequences: People, Planet and Inclusive Society

Public Session organized for the International Conference on New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption

Institute of Asian Studies and Center of Excellence in Resource Politics for Social Development, Chulalongkorn University

Thursday 30 July 2020, start from 09:00-10:45 GMT+7/Thailand Time

Speakers:

• “COVID-19: Risks of Lives and Emerging of Social Movement of Migrant Workers in Chiang Rai Borderland” by Suebsakul Kidnukorn, Area-based Social Innovation Research Center (Ab-SIRC), Mae Fah Luang University [Read Abstract]

• “Tamsang-Tamsong: Social Distancing Promotion and Job Security for Motorcycle Taxi and Food Vendors during the Covid-19 Crisis” by Akkanut Wantanasombut, Mekong Studies Center, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University [Read Abstract]

• “Rethinking the Future of Thai Fisheries: COVID-19 and Vulnerable Groups in Thai Fisheries Sector” by Nithis Thammaseangadipa, Asian Research Center for Migration, Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University [Read Abstract]

• “COVID- 19, Civil Society in Thailand’s Deep South and the Weak State” by Alisa Hasamoh, Faculty of Humanities and Social Development, Prince of Songkla University [Read Abstract]

Moderator: Naruemon Thabchumpon, Institute of Asian Studies and Center for Social Development Studies, Chulalongkorn University

THIS PANEL WILL BE HOSTED ON ZOOM

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and you can join by clicking on the link below:

ZOOM MEETING LINK

You can also join using the details below:

• Meeting ID: 916 1843 6974

• Password: 166390

For any inquiries about this event, please contact Anisa Widyasari at communications.csds@gmail.com.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Haze and Social (In)Justice in Southeast Asia: Past Experience and What Next?

Public Session organized for the International Conference on New research in international development, human rights, and international relations at a time of disruption

Organized by the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) as part of the Political Ecology in Asia Seminar Series.

Wednesday 29 July 2020, start from 13:00-14:30 GMT+7/Thailand Time

Over the past couple of decades, various sources of air pollution have become major issues of public concern in Southeast Asia and risen to the highest levels of public policy and politics. For example, annual forest fires were especially severe in Northern Thailand this year and raised tensions between vocal urban residents and rural ethnic communities who are regularly blamed due to their use of fire in agricultural practices. Yet, the latter have tried to demonstrate that they themselves are some of the most severely affected and, far from being to blame, are actually at the front line of trying to manage the wildfires risking their lives in the process.  Meanwhile, transboundary haze linked to burning peatlands in palm oil plantations in Indonesia causes harm – and frustration - in Singapore and Malaysia, also stoking inter-governmental tensions and blame games even as at least part of the responsibility links back to transnational companies based in Singapore and Malaysia. Also significant across the region is air pollution in expanding major and secondary urban areas produced by vehicles and other economic activities within them, including in Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Vientiane, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Whilst it is commonly narrated that urban air pollution affects all residents, in practice there is a strong social justice dimension as those who work outdoors– such as motorcycle taxi riders or street vendors – are significantly more exposed and with less resources to protect their health. The recent pandemic, and resultant lockdowns, resulted in some respite for the typically harmful pollution even as it is only temporary, and at great cost to livelihoods in general. Within these heated public discussions, many types of knowledge are produced and circulated influencing contesting discourses – including scientific studies, monitoring apps, media analysis, and community knowledge. Whilst a range of divergent solutions are regularly proposed by government agencies, politicians, academics, civil society, and community leaders, year after year air pollution continues to remain a challenge.

In this our first Political Ecology in Asia Seminar, coinciding with the International Conference on New Research in International Development, Human Rights, and International Relations at a Time of Disruption, we focus on the issue of social justice and air pollution. The discussion will examine how various economic, social and political inequalities intersect in relation to air pollution in terms of its creation and exposure, and the consequences for individuals, families and society as-a-whole. We situate the seminar in relation to the past experiences of air pollution and the heated debates that have ensued, but also look to the future given that the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting and has the possibility to transform many aspects of future society-environment relations.

Speakers:

• Daniel Hayward, Regional Centre for Social Science and Sustainable Development, Chiang Mai University

• Dr. Helena Varkkey, Department of Strategic and International Studies, University of Malaya

• Benjamin Tay, PM Haze

• Tara Buakamsri, Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Chair: Asst. Prof. Dr. Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

THIS PANEL WILL BE HOSTED ON ZOOM

This panel will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom and you can join by clicking on the link below:

ZOOM MEETING LINK

You can also join using the details below:

• Meeting ID: 988 1750 8760

• Password: 418715

For any inquiries about this event, please contact Anisa Widyasari at communications.csds@gmail.com.

NEWS: Free access for 7 days for CSDS' book at Routledge: Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia: Vulnerability, Migration and Environmental Change

Routledge is currently having promotion - which allows seven days of free access between now and the 14th of June to monograph eBooks. After the trial, those who have signed up for the free access can choose to purchase the eBook at the special price of £10 / $15.

One of CSDS’ books, Living with Floods in a Mobile Southeast Asia: Vulnerability, Migration and Environmental Change, is part of this promotion. This book contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between migration, vulnerability, resilience and social justice associated with flooding across diverse environmental, social and policy contexts in Southeast Asia. It challenges simple analyses of flooding as a singular driver of migration, and instead considers the ways in which floods figure in migration-based livelihoods and amongst already mobile populations.

You can access the book in this link here.

NEWS: Submission of the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement to the UN High Level Panel on Internal Displacement

In 2017, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law initiated a regional thematic study on internal displacement in the context of disasters and climate change across Asia and the Pacific as part of its wider programme on human rights and environment. Focusing on law, policy and practice in ten countries, and collaborating with academic partners from China, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the study adopted an expressly human rightsbased approach grounded in the 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Academics involved in the regional thematic study have formed the Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement, in whose name this submission is made. The following submission is based on insights gained from the study, including through consultations with international, regional and national actors. Some of the insights highlighted in this submission were also presented in various regional and national fora to validate them and gather feedback.

Center for Social Development Studies is part of the "Asia Pacific Academic Network on Disaster Displacement" and is a co-signatory of this submission. To read the Academic Submission, please visit the link here.

You can also visit the research project related to this submission, “Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response in Hat Yai”.

UPCOMING ONLINE PANEL DISCUSSION: Building Power from Within: Rural and Indigenous Community Organizing

The 2020 Rotary Peace Fellows’ Working Group and the Center for Social Development Studies at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University present an interactive dialogue with community leaders from Lower-Mekong countries on participatory processes to decrease power disparities and foster meaningful social change.

Tuesday 31 March 2020, start from 14:00 GMT+7/Thailand Time (the panel will be for 90 minutes)

Due to the current public health measures, this event will be an online panel discussion hosted via Zoom. You can join the event via the link provided here. The meeting room will be open before 14:00 so please be prepared to be online and join the meeting room beforehand so you can be ready to join the discussion on time. Following brief presentations by the panelists, participants can engage in a group discussion.

Topics:

• Rural people's issues in the greater Salween River basin near the Thai-Myanmar border with Shan State

• The growth of community organizations and networks within and between ethnic communities in Northern Thailand's three Mekong border districts

Speakers:

• Pianporn Deetes, International Rivers Thailand Campaign Coordinator

• Kru Tee Niwat Roykaew, Chair of Chiang Khong Conservation Group and Director of Mekong School - Institute Of Local Knowledge (in Thai with consecutive translation to English)

• Nang Shining, Founder and Director Mong Pan Youth Association

Moderator: Andrew Stone, 2020 Rotary Peace Fellows' Working Group

Concluding Remarks: Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies

The Panel will be in English.

For inquiries about this event, please contact communications.csds@gmail.com.

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Migration and SDGs: ASEAN and Beyond: A Pathway to 2030 Agenda: Episode II [Bangkok, 17-18 December 2019]

International Conference to Commemorate International Migrants’ Day

“Migration and SDGs: ASEAN and Beyond: A Pathway to the 2030 Agenda: Episode II”

Tuesday - Wednesday, 17-18 December 2019

Room 105, Maha Chulalongkorn Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Session Two: “Environment: Climate Change and Migration”

Tuesday, 17 December 2019, 15:50 - 17:25

Chair: Professor Surichai Wun’gaeo

Panelists:

• “Migration in the Context of Climate Change” by Ms. Chompoonute Nakornthap, Member of Human Rights Committee, Democrat Party, and HRD Advisor to the Minister of Social Development and Security.

• “Shall we go or shall we stay? Environmental Migration in Mekong and Irrawaddy Delta” by Representative from Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

• “title tbc” by Representative from Northern Region, Thailand

• “Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response: A case study of Hat Yai Municipality, Thailand” by Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS)

For more information about the conference, please visit this link here.

Abstract for Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response: A case study of Hat Yai Municipality, Thailand

by Carl Middleton, Orapan Pratomlek*

Hat Yai City in Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand has regularly experienced flooding, with major floods most recently in 1988, 2000 and 2010. Each flood caused loss of life, as well as significant economic damage and disruption to people’s lives, including displacement. The government’s response has evolved over time, as has its capacity to respond. Recovery responses in 1988 and 2000 emphasized investment in hard infrastructure (canals and embankments) to redirect flood water around the city, and to manage flood water better within it. The 2010 flood, however, led to the realization that it was not possible to fully “flood-proof” the city, leading to investment in soft infrastructure in an approach that has become known as the ‘Hat Yai model.’ This includes: improved flood warning; and strengthening local government, community, civil society and business capacity to live with floods and manage displacement locally over the several days that flooding occurs.

In this presentation, we critically evaluate the Hat Yai model, with a focus on how it has progressively reduced the extent that displacement occurs during flooding, and how preparedness measures have addressed displacement when it does occur. Our research is based on key informant interviews and indepth community interviews conducted in 2018. Overall, we find that the Hat Yai model demonstrates the positive efforts of the government and non-state actors to improve community resilience and address flood-induced displacement through hard and soft infrastructure means. Yet, there are still unresolved issues including: how the protection of Hat Yai city comes at the expense of prolonged or exacerbated flooding in other areas nearby to the city (i.e. risk redistribution); and that there remain especially marginalized communities in the city who regularly experience flooding with displacement with little state support or prospect for durable solutions.

*Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Change and Resistance - Future Directions of Southeast Asia [Taipei, 5-7 December 2019]

SEASIA Biennial Conference 2019

Change and Resistance: Future Directions of Southeast Asia

5-7 December 2019, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

Panel 8.4: Social Movements and Political Participation in Southeast Asia

Friday, 6 December 2019, 10:50-12:20, Room 904 (9th Floor)

Chair: Chia-Chien Chang (National Chengchi University)

Panelists:

• Social Movement and Political Participation: Fortification of Identity in Malaysia's Bersih Movement by Lim Hui Ying (Doshisha University)

• The “People Power” People Power Monument of the Philippines by Gil D. Turingan (University of the Philippines Diliman)

• Liberal Democracy and Civil Society: The Co-Production of Education Services by John Mark Hernandez Villanueva (Mapua University Manila)

• The Hybrid Public Sphere in Myanmar and Implications for Civil Society  by Carl Middleton (Chulalongkorn University)

• Activist Lawyering in an Emerging Democracy: the Case of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation by Timothy Sinclair Mann (University of Melbourne)

• Articulating a Broken Polity Social Movement and Political Party's Role in Organizing Cleavages by Zahra Amalia Syarifah (The University of Chicago)

For more information about the conference, please visit this link here.

Abstract for The Hybrid Public Sphere in Myanmar and Implications for Civil Society

by Carl Middleton*, Tay Zar Myo Win

Myanmar was under a military junta government for almost six decades, during which time the state heavily controlled the population’s access to information through maintaining an ‘authoritarian public sphere,’ including via severe control over civil society and independent mass media. In 2010, Myanmar held elections that, although highly flawed, resulted in a semi-civilian government. Whilst the military maintained considerable influence, a degree of electoral competition and civil, political and media freedoms were introduced, all within the constraints of the 2008 constitution. This melding of liberal and illiberal elements within an electoral system is best understood as a hybrid regime (Diamond, 2002). In this paper, we analyze the emergence of a ‘hybrid public sphere’ in Myanmar since 2010 that maintains some elements of the previous authoritarian control of the production and circulation of critical discourse, combined with more liberal elements that reflect recently gained civil, political and media freedoms and a greater role for civil society, journalists, and interaction via social media. The paper develops its analysis first through an assessment of the political transition at the national level, and then in a case study in subnational politics in Dawei City with a focus on local planning of electricity supply. We argue that for Myanmar to shift from a procedural to substantive form of democracy, independent civil society require strategies that link (and deepen) recently gained formal freedoms to ensuring the accountability of state and powerful non-state actors via the creation and maintenance of a substantive public sphere.

*Center of Excellence on Resource Politics for Social Development, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com)

IN THE NEWS: Panel Discussion on "The Mekong Drought: Impact and Solutions"

On August 2, 2019, Center for Social Development Studies co-organized a panel discussion on “The Mekong Drought: Impact and Solutions". The discussion is organized as part of the 8th Chula ASEAN Week and 5th Parliementaty ASEAN Community Forum.

Below are some articles referencing the event:

แนะอาเซียนหยิบยกประเด็นวิกฤตแม่น้ำโขงหารือจีน “ครูตี๋”ชี้วิธีคิดรัฐบาลแดนมังกรสวนทางวิถีชุมชน เผยปริมาณไฟฟ้าสำรองไทยเหลือเฟือแต่ถูกล็อคให้รับซื้อ-โยนภาระให้ผู้บริโภคแบกรับ

แนะอาเซียนหยิบยกประเด็นวิกฤตแม่น้ำโขงหารือจีน “ครูตี๋”ชี้วิธีคิดรัฐบาลแดนมังกรสวนทางวิถีชุมชน เผยปริมาณไฟฟ้าสำรองไทยเหลือเฟือแต่ถูกล็อคให้รับซื้อ-โยนภาระให้ผู้บริโภคแบกรับ 0 BY ADMIN ON 2 สิงหาคม 2019 ในประเทศ เมื่อวันที่ 2 สิงหาคม 2562 ที่อาคารเฉลิมราชกุมารี 60 พรรษา จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย ได้มีเวทีอภิปราย “สถานการณ์ภัยแล้งน้ำโขง: ผลกระทบและทางออก” โดยผู้ร่วมอภิปรายประกอบด้วย ศ.สุริชัย หวันแก้ว ผู้อำนวยการ ศูนย์สันติภาพและความขัดแย้งแห่งจุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย นายนิวัฒน์ ร้อย-แก้ว หรือ “ครูตี๋” ประธานกลุ่มรักษ์เชียงของ ดร.คาร์ล มิดเดิลตัน นักวิชาการศูนย์ศึกษาการพัฒนาสังคม คณะรัฐศาสตร์ จุฬาฯ นายชัยวัฒน์ พาระคุณ ผู้แทนเครือข่ายประชาชนลุ่มน้ำโขง และนายศุภกิจ นันทะวรการ ผู้แทนมูลนิธินโยบายสุขภาวะ ทั้งนี้ทางผู้จัดได้เชิญผู้แทนกระทรวงต่างประเทศไทยและผู้แทนสถานเอกอัครราชทูตจีนประจำประเทศไทย เข้าร่วมด้วย แต่ทั้ง 2 หน่วยงานไม่ได้ส่งตัวแทนเข้าร่วม

Read more at http://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=23362 .

'แล้ง-ท่วม'วิกฤติ'แม่น้ำโขง'เขื่อนสร้างพลังงาน..ชาวบ้านระทม

เมื่อช่วงกลางเดือน ก.ค. 2562 ที่ผ่านมา เกิดปรากฏการณ์ "น้ำโขงแห้ง" ซึ่งหลายคนที่อยู่ในพื้นที่ถึงกับออกปาก "เกิดมาเป็นสิบๆ ปีไม่เคยเห็นแบบนี้มาก่อน" แน่นอนว่าข้อสันนิษฐานหลักคงหนีไม่พ้น "สารพัดโครงการเขื่อน" ที่หลายชาติทำขึ้นทั้งในเขตประเทศตนเองและไปลงทุนในประเทศเพื่อนบ้านโดยยกเหตุความจำเป็นด้านพลังงาน ล่าสุดเมื่อต้นเดือน ส.ค. 2562 มีการจัดเวทีอภิปราย "สถานการณ์ภัยแล้งลุ่มน้ำโขง : ผลกระทบและทางออก" ที่จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย วิกฤติแม่น้ำโขง ก็ถูกหยิบยกขึ้นมาพูดถึงอีกครั้ง

Read more at https://www.ryt9.com/s/nnd/3024148

ภาคปชช.แนะรัฐบาล จัดทำนโยบายพัฒนาแม่น้ำโขง ถ่วงดุลย์โครงการกระทบคนลุ่มน้ำ

โดยตัวแทนภาคประชาชน ผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านพลังงานและด้านการพัฒนาลุ่มน้ำโขงได้ร่วมเวทีอภิปราย “สถานการณ์ภัยแล้งน้ำโขง:ผลกระทบและทางออก” โดยศูนย์สันติภาพและความขัดแย้งแห่งจุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย นายนิวัฒน์ ร้อยแก้ว หรือ “ครูตี๋” ประธานกลุ่มรักษ์เชียงของ กล่าวว่า “วิกฤติที่เกิดขึ้นตลอดระยะเวลาที่ผ่านมากำลังสะท้อนว่าภาครัฐไม่ไ้ด้ให้ความสนใจแก้ไขผลกระทบที่เกิดขึ้นจากการพัฒนาแม่น้ำโขงเพราะปัญหาได้เกิดขึ้นมานานแล้วและยังไม่ได้รับการแก้ไขให้ดีขึ้น” นายนิวัฒน์กล่าวว่า “ไม่เคยเห็นรัฐบาลชุดไหนออกมาพูดชัดเจนว่าจะพัฒนาแม่น้ำโขงอย่างไร ซึ่งสะท้อนว่ารัฐไทยไม่เคยมีนโยบายเกี่ยวกับแม่น้ำโขงและไม่ได้ให้ความสำคัญ”

Read more at https://www.bangkokbiznews.com/news/detail/842653

UPCOMING EVENT: Panel Discussion "The Mekong Drought: Impact and Solutions" [Bangkok, 2 August 2019]

Friday 2 August 2019, 13.30 - 15.00 at 8th Floor, Chaloem Rajakumari 60 Building, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

This panel is organized as part of the 8th Chula ASEAN Week and 5th Parliementaty ASEAN Community Forum

The Lancang-Mekong basin is currently facing a severe drought, with serious consequences for communities living within the basin. The drought takes place in the context of increasingly extensive hydropower dam construction in the basin on the mainstream and tributaries. These projects have expanded water storage capacity that could potentially alleviate drought, but have also impacted the natural hydrology and ecology of the river with a range of negative consequences for existing riparian livelihoods. Meanwhile, intergovernmental cooperation towards the Lancang-Mekong River is evolving with the launch of the Lancang Mekong Cooperation in 2016 alongside the existing Mekong River Commission. This panel will discuss the impact of the drought currently affecting the Mekong River basin, including on rural farming and fishing communities, its causes, and the immediate and long-term solutions.

Invited speakers:

• Representative, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand (t.b.c.)

• Representative, Embassy of The People's Republic of China in The Kingdom of Thailand (t.b.c.)

• Niwat Roykaew, Rak Chiang Khong

• Chaiwat Parakhun, Representative of the Thai Mekong Network;

• Suphakit Nuntavorakarn, Healthy Public Policy Foundation.

• Dr. Carl Middleton, Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Chair: Emeritus Professor Surichai Wun’gaeo, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Chulalongkorn University

The panel will be held in Thai and English language with simultaneous translation available.

This event will be broadcasted on Facebook Live: www.facebook.com/CSDSChula/

To register online and for more details about the 8th Chula ASEAN Week and the 5th Parliamentary ASEAN Community Forum, please visit the link here.

UPCOMING EVENT: CU Graduate Student Seminar Series 'The Globalization of Environmental Law' [Bangkok, 30 July 2019]

The Globalization of Environmental Law: A Seminar and Discussion with Professor Tseming Yang

Tuesday 30 July 2019, 10.00 - 11.30 at Mekong Room, Stockholm Environment Institute, 10th Floor, Kasem Utthayanin Building (อาคารเกษม อุทยานิน), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand (guide to the venue here)

Tseming Yang is a Professor of Law at Santa Clara University School of Law in California. He is the former Deputy General Counsel of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), appointed by President Barack Obama, and from 2007-10, he led the establishment of the US-China Partnership for Environmental Law, a USAID and State Department-funded initiative to build China’s institutional capacity in environmental law and governance. Professor Yang's research and practice focus on advancing understanding of the structure and role of the law with respect to the environment, as well as how to ensure that effective implementation will contribute to the achievement of justice and sustainability. He has an expertise in environmental law in international treaties, and in the law and governance systems of other countries.

Discussants:

• Dr. Naporn Popattanachai, Assistant Dean for Administration and Director of the Centre for Natural Resources and Environmental Law, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University

• May Thazin Aung, Research Associate, Stockholm Environment Institute

Moderator: Sara K. Phillips, PhD Candidate, GRID Program, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University and Doctoral Fellow, Stockholm Environment Institute

To register for this event, please send and e-mail to CU Graduate Student Seminar Series at cugradseminar@gmail.com.

NEW PUBLICATION: "BOOK: The Water-Food-Energy Nexus: Power, Politics and Justice"

Carl Middleton of CSDS is a co-author of a new book, “The Water-Food-Energy Nexus: Power Politics and Justice”.

The ‘nexus’ of relations between water, food and energy is often seen as a technical matter, addressing issues of risk, security or economics. In a new book in the Pathways to Sustainability series, Jeremy Allouche, Carl Middleton and Dipak Gyawali argue for a political approach to the Nexus.

Read the details of the book here, and download an open access chapter.

REVIEWS:

"Beyond the commonplace recognition that the 'nexus' conceptual basis is not new and that integrative imperatives already featured in IWRM, this book further examines the underbelly of the beast and convincingly exposes the political underpinnings of a concept presented as a-political and 'manageable' through integrative tools, expert modeling, bureaucratic reforms and rational efficiency-driven thinking. It reveals the underlying business imperatives and green economy logics, traces the global diffusion of the concept, and emphasizes that issues of distributional justice, knowledge production and democratization of governance need to take center stage if the concept is to be transformative rather than supporting the status quo. An excellent reading for all water students and scholars interested in deciphering the word of water concepts and the interests and values that undergird them." — Francois Molle, Editor of Water Alternatives [Full review here]

"We frequently hear of the nexus - but what does this mean, what does it entail, and where to begin? To such questions, Allouche offers a critical guide. Careful to consider complexities and uncertainties, the theoretical discussion coupled with multi-sited case studies, offers a compelling treatment. Readers wanting to know more of the concept, including political economic and equity implications, will find reading the book to be time well spent." — Leila M Harris, University of British Columbia, Canada

"Skilfully delving into the nuances of the nexus approach, the authors trace and explain the emergence of the ‘new’ concepts of nexus – between water, food, energy, environment and more. Unravelling the tangle of nexus-invoking discourses, motivations and practices yields a valuable, sense-making analysis." — John Dore, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

IN THE NEWS: Review of "The water-food-energy nexus. Power, politics and Justice"

By François Molle [Water Alternatives, 2019]

Although water-food-energy nexus thinking can hardly claim to be new wine, the growth of 'nexus literature' in the past ten years is remarkable. It has gained currency as a buzzword with the potential to convene water experts in global jamborees, to elicit books and special journal issues, and to challenge the long-established Integrated Water Resources Management concept as the new champion of integrative imperatives.

. . .

The book does a great job at showing how a water-energy-food nexus approach emphasises demand-led technological and market solutions, downplays supply-side limits, promotes a technical and supposedly apolitical treatment of trade-offs, and largely ignores the political dimensions that shape control over, and access to, resources. But even in its reductionist form of an optimising tool for cross-sectoral planning or business, the systemic complexity that the nexus seeks to address is baffling, and it is no wonder than in practice empirical work focuses on sub-nexuses using monetary metrics.

***

Carl Middleton of CSDS is the co-author of this book.

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AWARENESS: World Day of Social Justice [20 February]

Today, we observe the UN World Day of Social Justice!

It was observed following the Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 26 November 2007, in which the General Assembly recognized the following key points related to social justice:

1. Social development and social justice are indispensable for the achievement and maintenance of peace and security within and among nations and that, in turn, social development and social justice cannot be attained in the absence of peace and security or in the absence of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms;

2. Broad-based and sustained economic growth in the context of sustainable development is necessary to sustain social development and social justice;

3. Globalization and interdependence are opening new opportunities through trade, investment and capital flows and advances in technology, including information technology, for the growth of the world economy and the development and improvement of living standards around the world, while at the same time there remain serious challenges, including serious financial crises, insecurity, poverty, exclusion and inequality within and among societies and considerable obstacles to further integration and full participation in the global economy for developing countries as well as some countries with economies in transition;

4. There is a need to consolidate further the efforts of the international community in poverty eradication and in promoting full employment and decent work, gender equality and access to social well-being and justice for all.

In CSDS, Human Rights, Human Security, and Justice is one of our working themes. Our most recent project in this theme is Flooding disaster, people’s displacement and state response in Hat Yai, where we examine through a human rights lens whether the 'Hat Yai model' offers new insights and strategies. Last year, on 29 November 2018, we also hosted a workshop to discuss about disaster and displacement in Asia Pacific. The discussion is part of a ten-country study on a range of types of disaster and displacement scenarios understood through a human rights perspective. The overall study examines how state actors fulfill their obligations to prevent displacement, conduct evacuation, protect people during displacement, and facilitate durable solutions in the aftermath. The insights from the workshop can be read in our report: Disaster and Displacement - A Human Rights Perspective.

Other recent publications that focus on social justice include:

• The Public Regime for Migrant Child Education in Thailand: Alternative Depictions of Policy, which analyzes the conceptualization and depiction of Thailand’s public policy on education for the children of migrant workers in the country.

• National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), Extraterritorial Obligations (ETOs) and Hydropower in Southeast Asia, which examines the role of NHRIs and transnational civil society in pursing ETO cases in Southeast Asia as a means to investigate human rights threatened by cross-border investment projects

For more information about the World Day of Social Justice and additional downloadable resources, please visit the official United Nations website.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: Local livelihood situation and peace process in Myanmar: Dynamic of changes in Kachin State [8 June 2018]

UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SESSION: "Thailand’s Overseas Investment in Southeast Asia and Transnational (In)Justice" [16 July 2017]

Session organized at the 13th International Conference on Thai Studies
"Globalized Thailand?" Connectivity, Conflict, and Conundrums of Thai Studies 

15:15-16:45, 16th July 2017, Chiang Mai International Exhibition and Convention Center

Session convened by the Center for Social Development Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Thailand’s companies have become major investors in neighboring countries, including in agribusiness, hydropower, mining and various forms of industry. Thailand’s companies are backed by government policy, and typically financed by Thai commercial banks as well as, sometimes, Thailand’s Export Import Bank (Thai Exim). Thailand’s regional investment has furthermore been facilitated by various regional economic integration programs, including the Asian Development Bank’s Greater Mekong Subregion Program and more recently the ASEAN Economic Community. As one of the major economies of mainland Southeast Asia, Thailand has sought to positioned itself as central to economic regionalization. Given that Thailand itself is embedded within a wider global network of production, its companies’ investment in neighboring countries’ resource extraction and commodity production can also tied to a wider global political economy.

Whilst it seems that investment, commodities, goods and natural resources flow readily across borders, the same cannot be said of access to justice. In this panel, empirical case studies will be presented of Thailand’s cross-border investments that have in the process resulted in environmental and social harms, and in some cases violated human rights. The panel explores the various processes and arenas that have emerged as communities and civil society have sought redress and access to justice. These arenas have included in the national courts of the project host country, but also through various formal and informal cross-border processes that link to Thailand, including via Thailand’s National Human Rights Commission (TNHRC), and in one example a case ruled upon by Thailand’s administrative court. Meanwhile, a report of the TNHRC on the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Myanmar led to a Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommendation in March 2016 that the government should set up a mechanism for the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for Thai companies investing overseas. Thus, a wider array of international norms is also brought into play, reflecting the legal pluralism that nowadays governs cross-border investments. This also brings into focus a question of the extra-territorial obligations of Thailand with regard to the investment of Thai companies.

This panel will critically evaluate Thailand’s investment role in the region through the lens of transnational social and environmental justice. Through empirical case studies on agribusiness, hydropower and special economic zones, the political economy of these investments will be explored in order to understand the production of injustice and human rights violations.  The papers will ask: what are the roles, opportunities and challenges for public interest law, national/ regional human rights institutions, other transnational soft law mechanisms, and civil society to protect and promote human rights on Thailand’s investments?

• Paper 1:  Accountability Beyond the State: Extra territorial obligations in the case of the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Concession, Cambodia by Michelle D’cruz
• Paper 2: Redressing transboundary environmental injustice at the Dawei Special Economic Zone and Roadlink Project by Naruemon Thabchumpon
• Paper 3: Arenas of Water Justice on Transboundary Rivers: Human Rights and Hydropower Dams on the Salween and Mekong Rivers by Carl Middleton

Discussant: Walden Bello.

Chair: Daniel King

Abstracts can be downloaded here (see page 7; session 53). Conference details are available here.

UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR: "Public Seminar on Human Rights" by Ronald L. Holzhacker and Stanati Netipatalachoochote [24 May 2017]

9:00-11:30, Alumni Meeting Room, 12th Floor, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Co-organized by the Master of Arts in International Development Studies (MAIDS), the MA in Southeast Asian Studies Program (SEAS), the Institute for Asian Studies, the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) of the the Faculty of Political Science Chulalongkorn University.