New Mandala

A conference for those interested in urban diversity.
Living Capital: Sustaining Diversity in Southeast Asian Cities
A Centre for Khmer Studies Initiating Urban Studies in Cambodia and Capacity Building in Higher Education Conference, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Institute for Cultural Enterprise, New School University
Phnom Penh, 10-11 January 2007

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Over the past week or so there has been a vigorous debate going on among New Mandala readers about the Thaksin’s government’s so called “war on drugs” (much of it in the 55 comments to this post). We welcome the debate on this crucially important issue. But there has been a significant amount of repetition [...]

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The standard descriptions of grinding political deadlock, ethnic conflict and democratic struggle that pass for informed commentary on Burma almost inevitably overlook a whole raft of unglamorous issues.  These are issues that often have profound impacts on the lives of ordinary people caught on the edges of Southeast Asia’s most protracted civil conflicts.  
The lack of educational opportunities for many in the [...]

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Just in case anybody out there was under the mistaken impression that all is calm on the Burmese front, Smita Mishra Brahma’s discussion of Burmese and Indian army cooperation to eradicate insurgents is worth mentioning in passing.  Published in this month’s The Irrawaddy, it is a complex report on what is - no doubt about it [...]

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