BOOK CHAPTER: Illegal Trade in Ozone Depleting Substances
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By Liu Ning, Carl Middleton and Vira Somboon
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BOOK CHAPTER: Sustainable Electricity Transition in Thailand and the Role of Civil Society
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By Carl Middleton
The chapter explains the creation and resistance to change of Thailand’s centralized and fossil-fuel intensive electricity regime through a Sustainability Transition and Multilevel Perspective lens, with an emphasis on the sector’s political economy.
Read MoreJOURNAL ARTICLE: Watershed or Powershed?: A Critical Hydropolitics of the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Framework’
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By Dr. Carl Middleton and Dr. Jeremy Allouche
The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams throughout the basin. Three ‘powersheds’, conceptualised as physical, institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature-society relations of the watershed.
Read MoreBook Chapter: Design Thinking Approaches to MA Internships
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New ways of thinking about and tackling poverty are needed. One approach that has been proposed is innovation for inclusive development (IID), which has been defined as “innovation that reduces poverty and enables all groups of people, especially the poor and marginalized to participate in decision making, create and actualize opportunities, and equitably share in the benefits of development” (IDRC, 2013:5). This book chapter maps out approaches towards and the relationship between inclusiveness, innovation and development, and introduces a new Master-level module titled “Principles, Tools and Practices for Innovation for Inclusive Development (IID) in Southeast Asia” being taught on the MA in International Development Studies Program, Chulalongkorn University.
Read MoreCONFERENCE PAPER: Private Dams, Public Interest in mainland Southeast Asia
/Private Dams, Public Interest in mainland Southeast Asia: Hydropower Governance in a Beyond-Aid Political Economy
By Carl Middleton
Presented at Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia (TRaNS) Conference on: Exploring 'beyond aid' agenda through Southeast Asia's rapidly changing development landscape, Sogang Institute for East Asian Studies, 27-28 May 2016
The paper shows how whilst Build Operate Transfer (BOT) hydropower dams, framed under the concept of Public Private Partnerships (PPP), were first introduced into mainland Southeast Asia by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and Western donors, as geopolitical and domestic politics of the region has shifted, the model is now utilized by new or “non-traditional” aid providers, including from China, Thailand and Vietnam. However, the concept of BOT is not transferred wholesale. The paper argues that in contrast to the earlier claims of the IFIs and Western donors that BOT hydropower projects could also be vehicles of direct poverty reduction and ‘development’, the “non-traditional” aid providers view these projects principally as economic infrastructure; if a claim for poverty reduction exists at all, then it is enfolded within broader objectives of national or regional economic growth. Thus, it will be argued that the “public interest” has largely been reduced to the interest of the private developers.
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Cite this article as: Middleton, C. (2016) “Private Dams, Public Interest in mainland Southeast Asia: Hydropower Governance in a Beyond-Aid Political Economy” Paper presented at Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia (TRaNS) Conference on: Exploring 'beyond aid' agenda through Southeast Asia's rapidly changing development landscape, Sogang Institute for East Asian Studies, 27-28 May 2016
JOURNAL ARTICLE: Improvements To Enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements To Control International Shipments of Chemicals And Wastes
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By Liu Ning, Vira Somboon, Surichai Wun’gaeo, Carl Middleton, Charit Tingsabadh and Sangchan Limjirakan.
This article discusses how and why law enforcement operations can help countries to implement chemical and waste-related multilateral environmental agreements in a more efficient and effective way. The research explores key barriers and factors for organising law enforcement operations, and recommends methods to improve law enforcement operations to address illegal trade in hazardous waste and harmful chemicals.
Read MoreOPINION: How About Accountability Beyond Borders?
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By Carl Middleton
The arrival of the ASEAN Economic Community in December 2015 marked a major milestone in the ambition of the countries of the region to become closer to one another through economic cooperation. It anticipates economic growth, and with it a growing role for large transnational and domestic corporations, as well as for smaller businesses.
Read MoreJOURNAL ARTICLE: Monopolization Strengthens: Thailand’s Asian Democracy Index in 2015
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On May 22, 2014, Thailand underwent its most recent military coup that prompted the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to govern the country. This research demonstrates that Thailand under military rule has entered a period of re-monopolization of political, economic and civil society power, that is in contrast with the measures of democracy as understood through the lens of Asian Democracy Index (ADI).
Read MoreCONFERENCE PAPER: Arenas of Water Justice on Transboundary Rivers
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By Carl Middleton
This paper examines how processes of transboundary river resource dispossession by large hydropower dams have been challenged within “arenas of water justice” in Southeast Asia, conceptualized as politicized spaces of water governance in which a process for claiming and/or defending the Right to Water takes place.
Read MoreJOURNAL ARTICLE: Technical Veil, Hidden Politics: Interrogating the Power Linkages Behind the Nexus
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By Jeremy Allouche, Carl Middleton (International Researcher, CSDS), and Dipak Gyawali.
The nexus is still very much an immature concept. Although it is difficult to disagree with a vision of integration between water, food and energy systems, there are fewer consensuses about what it means in reality. While some consider its framing to be too restrictive (excluding climate change and nature), particular actors see it as linked to green economy and poverty reduction, while others emphasise global scarcity and value chain management. The nexus debates, however, mask a bigger debate on resource inequality and access, contributing to social instability.
Read MoreJOURNAL ARTICLE: The Rise And Implications of the Water-energy-food Nexus In Southeast Asia Through An Environmental Justice Lens
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By Carl Middleton (International Researcher, CSDS), Jeremy Allouche, Dipak Gyawali and Sarah Allen.
This article maps the rise of the water-energy-food 'nexus' as a research, policy and project agenda in mainland Southeast Asia. We argue that introducing the concept of environmental justice into the nexus, especially where narratives, trade-offs and outcomes are contested, could make better use of how the nexus is framed, understood and acted upon.
Read MoreJOURNAL ARTICLE: Transboundary Water and Electricity Governance in Mainland Southeast Asia: Linkages, Disjunctures and Implications.
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By Carl Middleton and John Dore
In mainland Southeast Asia, plans for extensive hydropower development and regional power trade are increasingly underway with implications for transboundary water governance. This paper maps out the context, drivers, tools and arenas of water and electricity decision making, and examines the linkages and disjunctures between regional electricity and water governance frameworks.
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JOURNAL ARTICLE: The Polarization of Thai Democracy: The Asian Democracy Index in Thailand
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By Naruemon Thabchumpon (Director, CSDS), Jakkrit Sangkhamanee, Carl Middleton (International Researcher, CSDS), and Weera Wongsatjachock.
In recent years, explanation of Thailand’s democratization has been subject to intense debate. Some political experts say that Thai politics is monopolized by a few groups of political elites (see for example Thitinan 2014). Others have argued that various politically influential movements exist in Thailand, including those that support elections and that oppose corruption. In this paper, we argue that Thai democracy is no longer a game of elites, but that to a certain but significant extent laypeople have become involved in different spheres to assert their political, economic, and social influence or, through the lens of Cho (2012), acted to de-monopolize power.
Read MoreBOOK: Challenges To Human Security In A Borderless World
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Edited by Surichai Wun'gaeo
This book is a collection of papers presented at the international symposium on Human Security chaired by Amartya Sen and Sadako Ogata. More than 700 participants attended the symposium held at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok on 11th December 2002. The participants came not only from different parts of the world but also diverse background.
Read MoreBOOK: Mainstreaming Human Security: Asian Perspectives
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Edited By Chantana Banpasirichote, Philippe Doneys, Mike Hayes, and Chandan Sengupta
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Read MoreBOOK: Critical Connections: Human Rights, Human Development and Human Security
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By Naruemon Thabchumpon
This volume is the compilation of papers presented at an international conference on “Critical Connections: Human Rights, Human Development, and Human Security,” which constituted the 4th International Conference on Human Rights and Human Development.
Read MoreBOOK: Coping with Dis-integration: From the Perspective of Local to Global
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Edited by Vira Somboon
Read MoreBOOK: Rural Livelihoods and Human Insecurities in Globalizing Asian Economies
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Edited by Surichai Wun'gaeo
This book is a collection of papers presented at the international symposium Rural Livelihoods and Human Insecurities in Globalizing Asian Economies organized by the Asian Rural Sociological Association and the Center for Social Development studies, Chulalongkorn University on July 28-29, 2006 at Chulalongkorn University.
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