New Mandala

In 1983 Charles Keyes wrote “the evidence from monastery libraries in Laos and Thailand reveals that what constitutes the Theravādin dhamma for people in these areas includes only a small portion of the total Tipiṭaka…Moreover, the collection of texts available to the people in the associated community are not exactly the same as those found [...]

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One of the most fascinating transformations that has occurred recently in the uplands of southeast Asia is the rapid adoption of rubber in the border districts of north-western Laos. In many upland regions, tree crops are seen as a desirable alternative by state agencies seeking to “stabilise” shifting cultivation systems. In north-western Laos rapidly improving [...]

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Long-time readers will recall that when I interviewed historian Michael Aung-Thwin back in November 2007, some of his statements caused consternation among those who take a different view of pre-modern Burmese history.  Donald M. Stadtner has recently published a piece that takes on the range of contested perspectives about the “diverse cultural strands that made [...]

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Since its inception in 2006 New Mandala has continuously welcomed guest contributions. To date we have hosted over a hundred of these. We regard them as one of the core strengths of the website.
Building on this existing foundation of guest posts, today we are launching New Mandala’s Four Letter Words.  This series of invited contributions will showcase short scholarly [...]

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The International Crisis Group has issued a strongly-worded policy brief on the situation in Thailand. Here is their six point plan which, they suggest, would enable Thailand to “step back from the brink of further political chaos.”
􀂉 All parties should commit to resolving their differences through peaceful and democratic means.
􀂉 Senior establishment and army figures should [...]

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The Bangkok Post reports on an address given by James Bond (Chief Operating Officer of the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency) to the Mekong River Commission.
Here is an extract from Bond’s speech:
The third consideration is properly mitigating the impact on the environment and the people affected. While stakeholder participation and engagement is important throughout [...]

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Recently our article “Northern Thailand’s Specter of Eviction” was published by Critical Asian Studies (40:3, 373-398).  In that piece we discussed the evidence of village evictions in northern Thailand.   This is, as we point out, an enduring theme in academic and activist writings across the region.  However we found that the strong emphasis on evictions is not supported [...]

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At first I could not believe my ears. But after checking the ABC’s website I had to accept that it was true. The story, of course, was the election of Taro Aso as Japan’s third Prime Minister in two years. The ABC site reports that Aso is “known for being a blunt speaker.”  Ouch! 
But there is worse … [...]

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Readers looking to continue chewing over the issue of Burmese politics and foreign “intervention” may find some satisfaction in this article from The Christian Science Monitor.  It is part of a series they have been running over the past week that highlights conditions one year after the September 2007 uprising.

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“These are weird times in Asian politics.”
- Marcus Gee writing in The Globe and Mail.

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