The Role of Security Forces in Thailand’s Deep South Counter-Insurgency

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77
Author(s):  
Paul Chambers ◽  
Napisa Waitoolkiat
Keyword(s):  
Deep South ◽  
Security Forces

scholarly journals The Role of Security Forces in Thailand’s Deep South Counter-Insurgency

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-77
Author(s):  
Paul Chambers ◽  
Napisa Waitoolkiat
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
National Council ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Vicious Cycle ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
State Security ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Durable Peace

This study looks at the role of Thai state security forces in the Deep South across history until early 2017. These forces include the army, navy, police and paramilitaries and have been tasked with enforcing Thai state policy toward the Deep South since the centralization of power by the Siamese monarchy over this region in 1902. After the 2014 coup, the junta initiated a policy of using both repression and negotiations with insurgent groups to achieve its aims in the Deep South. Meanwhile violence has continued. The study, using historical institutionalism, argues that Thai security forces’ preference for a hard-line policy in the Deep South has resulted in a vicious cycle of tension and violence between security officials and local Malay-Muslims which has not been conducive to peace efforts in the region. Nevertheless, any durable peace will need to satisfy military perceptions of security. Yet what has been the historical trajectory of security policy in the Deep South? What has been the policy of the ruling National Council for Peace and Order military junta toward the region? What is the likelihood of the Thai junta becoming more pragmatic regarding the Deep South in the near future? This study examines these questions.

scholarly journals Hegemonic Distortions: The Securitisation of the Insurgency in Thailand's Deep South

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-232
Author(s):  
Nicole Jenne ◽  
Jun Yan Chang
Keyword(s):  
External Environment ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Current Period ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Political Decisions

AbstractThe conflict between the Thai state and the Malay-Muslim insurgency in the country's Deep South is one of Southeast Asia's most persistent internal security challenges. The start of the current period of violence dates back to the early 2000s, and since then, a significant number of studies exploring the renewed escalation have been published. In this study, we argue that existing scholarship has not adequately accounted for the external environment in which political decisions were taken on how to deal with the southern insurgency. We seek to show how the internationally dominant, hegemonic security agenda of so-called non-traditional security (NTS) influenced the Thai government's approach to the conflict. Building upon the Copenhagen School's securitisation theory, we show how the insurgency became securitised under the dominant NTS narrative, leading to the adoption of harsh measures and alienating discourses that triggered the escalation of violence that continues today. The specific NTS frameworks that ‘distorted’ the Thai state's approach of one that had been informed solely by local facts and conditions were those of anti-narcotics and Islamist terrorism, albeit in different ways. Based on the findings from the case study, the article concludes with a reflection on the role of the hegemonic NTS agenda and its implications for Southeast Asian politics and scholarship.

Refraction and refraction: Analytical study of the role of social work in the growing performance of security forces to confront the threat of ISIS terrorism: quantitative and qualitative indicators

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 47-92
Keyword(s):  
Current Situation ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Gradual Improvement ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

Some major crises, such as wars, may redraw the features of society with all its groups, ideologies and policies it adopts. In these few pages, we try to discuss objectively, not mixed with bias, some of the bright aspects in the city of Mosul after its liberation from the clutches of infidelity and extremism, starting from a scientific reference that distinguishes what was the situation in the city of Mosul during the days of ISIS terrorist gangs He explained the current situation after its liberation, assuming that the current situation is witnessing a kind of gradual improvement despite the state of anxiety experienced by the residents of Mosul, which may turn into a state of protest and revolution with a negative content if they are not compensated and return their societal status to what it was, if conditions and opportunities are not available For a new societal renaissance based on all partners in restoring stability to the city. This study, despite its simplicity, adheres to a scientific and methodological character, to determine some geographical, historical, and cultural dimensions characteristic of the city of Mosul in Iraq, and we referred to some hotbeds of tension and conflict, in addition to the factors of calm, dialogue and cooperation, up to the desired state of stability in which we were keen to clarify the role Social service as a scientific field specialized in achieving a state of security and stability in the local communities of post-conflict areas liberated from ISIS terrorism. The sensitivity of the topic, the severity of its complexity and the variability of the references of his analysis, may make the researcher confronting his study feel embarrassed, and therefore it is useful not to expose the causes of the fall of the city of Mosul to the hands of ISIS terrorist groups Notice that as we search in the present we do not dispense with history, and as we stress the importance of security and stability, we do not have the right to neglect the national sacrifices of the men of the security forces and the popular crowd, recalling the fact that these sacrifices are not a temporary, contingent structure, or a fabricated formation that can be easily overcome. A national historical position, with whom Holiness is a measure of faith, but at the same time and in response to those sacrifices and efforts to liberate the city of Mosul and eliminate the so-called terrorist ISIS, as much as it contains the tenacity and persistence of liberation, there is a measure of the possibility of dissociation, dissipation and loss. The matter depends on many factors, foremost among which is the availability of a collective sense of belonging to a national and spatial space, with all its history, memory, experiences, and common interests, a place called: a homeland, a national status called: loyalty and belonging, and a governmental action called: ages and concern. Keywords: Refraction and refraction

scholarly journals The Reach of Radio: Ending Civil Conflict through Rebel Demobilization

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 1395-1429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Armand ◽  
Paul Atwell ◽  
Joseph F. Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Causal Effect ◽  
Grid Cell ◽  
Civil Conflict ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Income Shocks ◽  
Cell Level ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Fm Radio ◽  
Opposing Effects

We examine the role of FM radio in mitigating violent conflict. We collect original data on radio broadcasts encouraging defections during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency. This constitutes the first quantitative evaluation of an active counterinsurgency policy that encourages defections through radio messages. Exploiting random topography-driven variation in radio coverage along with panel variation at the grid-cell level, we identify the causal effect of messaging on violence. Broadcasting defection messages increases defections and reduces fatalities, violence against civilians, and clashes with security forces. Income shocks have opposing effects on both the conflict and the effectiveness of messaging. (JEL D74, L82, O17)

scholarly journals Lack of Group Support and Burnout Syndrome in Workers of the State Security Forces and Corps: Moderating Role of Neuroticism

Medicina ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (9) ◽  
pp. 536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farfán ◽  
Peña ◽  
Topa
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Burnout Syndrome ◽  
Group Support ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
State Security ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Personal Fulfillment ◽  
Moderating Role

: Background and Objectives: This research analyzes the relationship between the lack of group support and burnout syndrome in workers of the State Security Forces and Corps, considering the role of personality traits in this relationship. In particular, it is hypothesized that neuroticism will moderate this relationship. Materials and Methods: Participants were 237 workers from the State Security Forces and Corps dedicated to tasks of citizen security. Results: The results show that neuroticism moderates the relationship between lack of group support and the three components of the burnout syndrome: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal fulfillment. Conclusions: The findings are discussed, suggesting intervention strategies for the improvement of the agents’ personal well-being.

scholarly journals Traditional Leaders and Zimbabwe’s Liberation Struggle in Buhera District, 1976–1980

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enock Ndawana ◽  
Mediel Hove
Keyword(s):  
National Liberation ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Traditional Leaders ◽  
Liberation Struggle

AbstractThis article examines the role of traditional leaders during Zimbabwe’s war of liberation. Contrary to the generalisations that traditional leaders and their subordinates were either absolutely supportive of the liberation war or were against it supporting the Smith regime, this paper uses the case of Buhera District to demonstrate that traditional leaders and their subordinates contributed in various ways to Zimbabwe’s war of liberation. Guided by a combination of primary and secondary sources, the article argues that traditional leaders were in a dilemma because they were victims of the contending forces. However, they employed various survival tactics as they faced equally dangerous conflicting forces who put them in complex, ambiguous and contradictory relationships. The article concludes that the strategies and tactics employed by the Rhodesian Security Forces and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army guerrillas had debilitating effects on traditional leaders and their subordinates during the liberation war.

Wreck/Conciliation? The Politics of Truth Commissions in Thailand

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan McCargo ◽  
Naruemon Thabchumpon
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Way

More than ninety people died in political violence linked to the March–May 2010 “redshirt” protests in Bangkok. The work of the government-appointed Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) illustrates the potential shortcomings of seeing quasi-judicial commissions as a catch-all solution for societies struggling to deal with the truth about their recent pasts. The 2012 TRCT report was widely criticized for blaming too much of the violence on the actions of rogue elements of the demonstrators and failing to focus tightly on the obvious legal transgressions of the security forces. By failing strongly to criticize the role of the military in most of the fatal shootings, the TRCT arguably helped pave the way for the 2014 coup. Truth commissions that are unable to produce convincing explanations of the facts they examine may actually prove counterproductive. Following Quinn and Wilson, we argue in this article that weak truth commissions are prone to politicization and are likely to produce disappointing outcomes, which may even be counterproductive.

scholarly journals The militarisation of the Platfontein San (!Xun and Khwe): The initial years 1966–1974

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A S Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Liberation Movements ◽  
Made In

The resettlement of 372 San (Bushmen) soldiers with dependents from 31/201 and 203 Battalions in Namibia to Schmidtsdrift in the Northern Cape during March 1990 was the last chapter in the process of militarisation of the !Xun and Khwe communities. However, there is a popular perception that the South African Defence Force (SADF) was primarily responsible for the militarisation of this particular San community, with the founding of 31 Battalion during 1974. This ignores the fact that the !Xun and Khwe originated in Angola, where they were actively involved with the Portuguese security forces. With one exception, only superficial mention is made in the literature about the role of the San soldiers in Angola before independence in November 1975. This article shows that the militarisation of the San actually started in 1966, when members of the !Xun were recruited by the Portuguese Security Police (PIDE) and successfully used against the Angolan liberation movements MPLA, FNLA and UNITA. The lifestyle of the San before the PIDE era is discussed, as is the period in which they were raised to a superior status as flecha fighters. This period of military prowess ended with the independence of Angola and resulted in the !Xun and Khwe seeking refuge with the SADF. These geo-political events led to the founding of 31 Battalion, situated in the Western Caprivi, where former flecha soldiers were retrained and incorporated into SADF structures. In closing, brief mention is made of the resettlement of the !Xun and Khwe to Schmidtsdrift in South Africa.

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