The Politics of Survival: Peasant Response to ‘Progress’ in Southeast Asia

1973 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Scott ◽  
Ben Kerkvliet
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
Local Practices ◽  
Local Product ◽  
Normative Justification

… the chief social basis of radicalism has been the peasant and the smaller artisan J i n the towns. From the facts, one may conclude that the wellsprings of human freedom lie not only where Marx saw them, in the aspirations of classes about to take power, but perhaps even more in the dying wail of a class over whom the wave of progress is about to roll.The Southeast Asian peasantry has historically sought, as best it could, to secure its economic and physical well-being against the claims and threats of either the state or local elites. In this context, the defense of peasant subsistence and security needs i s morally underwritten by a “little tradition” that asserts both the priority of local custom over outside law and the priority of local subsistence needs over outside claims on the local product. This aspect of the little tradition amounts to a normative justification for resistence whenever agrarian elites or the state violate important local practices or threaten what villagers consider their minimal ceremonial and subsistence fund.

The Costs of Regularization in Southeast Asia

Contexts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25
Author(s):  
Maryann Bylander
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Global South ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
Asian Context

In the Southeast Asian context, legal status is ambiguous; it enlarges some risks while lessening others. As is true in many contexts across the Global South, while documentation clearly serves the interest of the state by offering them greater control over migrant bodies, it is less clear that it serves the goals, needs, and well-being of migrants.

scholarly journals The Volatile State in Southeast Asia: Evidence from Sumatra, 1600–1800

2003 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 497-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Freek Colombijn
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
State Formation ◽  
State Power ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
Central State ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Clifford Geertz ◽  
State Capital

The communis opinio of historians is that early modern, or precolonial, states in Southeast Asia tended to lead precarious existences. The states were volatile in the sense that the size of individual states changed quickly, a ruler forced by circumstances moved his state capital, the death of a ruler was followed by a dynastic struggle, or a local subordinate head either ignored or took over the central state power; in short, states went through short cycles of rise and decline. Perhaps nobody has helped establish this opinion more than Clifford Geertz (1980) with his powerful metaphor of the “theatre state.” Many scholars have preceded and followed him in their assessment of the shakiness of the state (see, for example, Andaya 1992, 419; Bentley 1986, 292; Bronson 1977, 51; Hagesteijn 1986, 106; Milner 1982, 7; Nagtegaal 1996, 35, 51; Reid 1993, 202; Ricklefs 1991, 17; Schulte Nordholt 1996, 143–48). The instability itself was an enduring phenomenon. Most polities existed in a state of flux, oscillating between integration and disintegration, a phenomenon which was first analyzed for mainland Southeast Asia by Edmund Leach (1954) in his seminal work on the Kachin chiefdoms. This alternation of state formation and the breaking up of kingdoms has been called the “ebb and flow of power” and the “rhythm” of Malay history (Andaya and Andaya 1982, 35). In this article, I will probe into the causes of the volatility of the Southeast Asian states, using material from Sumatra to make my case.

Religious Resurgence in Contemporary Asia: Southeast Asian Perspectives on Capitalism, the State, and the New Piety

2010 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 1031-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Hefner
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Spiritual Disciplines ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Insufficient Attention ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
New Varieties ◽  
State Capital

Large portions of East and Southeast Asia are in the throes of a historically unprecedented upsurge in religious observance and association. Many of the new varieties of religiosity are more popular, voluntary, and laity based than the religions of yesteryear. Many are also marked by the heightened participation of women, and an emphasis on inner-worldly well-being as well as otherworldly transcendence. Focusing on Southeast Asia, but with references to developments in China, this article examines the social and moral genealogy of eastern Asia's religious vitalization. Many analysts have emphasized the influence of postcolonial secularisms, neoliberal disciplines, and ascendant civil societies in the religious resurgence. Although these factors have indeed played a role, the macro-narratives of the state, capital, and democratization often give insufficient attention to the micro- and meso-passions of self, family, and neighborhood, all of which have contributed to the popularization and proximatization of once restricted spiritual disciplines.

Race, Language, and National Cohesion in Southeast Asia

1980 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Yong Leng
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Group ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Newly Independent States ◽  
State Form

Southeast Asian states are often referred to as “nations” (for example, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN), thus implying that the peoples of each state form only one national group and are easily distinguished and characterized. In fact, more often than not, each population of the various states shows not only differences of nationality but also many other differences. Among these factors of differentiation, the political geographer attaches particular importance to the two factors of language and nationality. These two cultural factors are elements of the “state-idea” and can affect the cohesion and strength of a state. All the newly independent states of Southeast Asia are seeking to establish their state-ideas and, i n the analysis of each state's population, these two factors can throw much light on the cohesion, functioning, and viability of that particular state.

Archaeology and Anthropology in Southeast Asia

1987 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-181
Author(s):  
Wilhelm G. Solheim
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Guest Editor ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
Southeast Asian Studies ◽  
Mainland Southeast Asia

I agreed in the fall of 1979 to be the guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies on the state of the art of archaeology and anthropology in Southeast Asia. This special issue was to be published in March 1984 and I was to have the papers to the editor by the 15th of October 1983; plenty of time I thought. I first attempted to get two senior American anthropologists to be associate editors, one for Mainland Southeast Asia and one for Island Southeast Asia. This did not work out so in the fall of 1980 I started to organize authors for each country. By the summer of 1981 I had arranged authors for thirteen reports.

State and Personhood in Southeast Asia: The Promise and Potential for Law and Society Research

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynette J. CHUA ◽  
David M. ENGEL
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
State Building ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
Law And Society ◽  
Not Given ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Southeast Asian Studies ◽  
The Law ◽  
Society Research

AbstractThe diversity and pluralism of Southeast Asia make it an ideal subject for law and society researchers, but by and large they have not given the region the attention it deserves. In this article, we argue for a more intense and systematic linking of research about Southeast Asia and the field of law and society. We focus on the theme ofstate and personhoodto suggest how some of the central concerns of law and society may be relevant to Southeast Asian peoples and cultures. We illustrate our argument by selecting nine excellent articles by Southeast Asian scholars who do not currently identify their work with the law and society field, and we demonstrate that their research is rich with implications for the field. We welcome in particular the ways in which they have portrayed personhood as an ongoing construction and have highlighted its contingent relationship with the state. Building on these themes, we conclude the article with a plea for a more far-reaching engagement between Southeast Asian studies and law and society research.

Management in Southeast Asia

2018 ◽  
pp. 820-842
Author(s):  
Michael A. Witt
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Varieties Of Capitalism ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
The State ◽  
Business Systems ◽  
Material Forces ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Institutional Features ◽  
Business And Management

This chapter provides an overview of business and management in Southeast Asia. Drawing on the business systems (varieties of capitalism) literature, it lays out the institutional features of business in the region: Singapore as an exponent of advanced city economies and the remainder of the region as emerging Southeast Asian markets. The chapter identifies key historical themes and material forces that have led to the emergence of these ways of organizing economies in the region and discusses their key characteristics. The chapter further discusses typical strategies by foreign direct investors coming into the region as well as the state of multinational enterprises emerging from the region.

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