The rise of China has shifted the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region. China has tried to influence small island states that were previously under the spheres of influence of Australia and ...India by offering lucrative offers under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Small states remain in a quandary about how to approach the evolving regional security paradigm. Using a realism-based perspective, this paper explores small state options through two case studies: Sri Lanka and Fiji and contributes to the scholarly literature by analysing and drawing conclusions about small state options and whether they can opt to return to their traditional relationships and partnerships. The paper draws some conclusions that contrast with some realist assumptions, including a defiance on the part of small island states, who under the right circumstances can upend the status quo in the pursuit of greater economic benefits.
India–Thailand Security Cooperation Cogan, Mark Shawn; Mishra, Vivek
Journal of Asian security and international affairs,
04/2020, Letnik:
7, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
In the past, India’s resolve to connect with countries further to its east centred on its relationship with ASEAN as a group and lacked a holistic outlook as it emphasised on a lopsided approach that ...left out the security dimension. The bilateral relationship between Bangkok and New Delhi marks an emerging departure from this past trend. In the recent past, Thailand has emerged as a bright spot in India’s vast array of security relationships, with growing focus on maritime security, counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, joint patrols and exchange of personnel in training. Besides boosting interoperability, increasing joint actions seek to marry India’s Act East policy with Thailand’s Look West policy, both of which emerged in the past decade of the twentieth century. Both countries look to strengthening their resolve in the Indo-Pacific, even as the region’s stability gets further complicated by sharpening Great Power politics. This article scrutinises the India–Thailand relationship from a security perspective and tests the compatibility of this emerging bilateral relationship with a regional security architecture conceptualisation in the Indo-Pacific. As such, this article seeks to fulfil two important goals: fill the literature deficit in India–Thailand relations that has often been eclipsed and subsequently neglected by the overarching canvass of India–ASEAN relations and analyse India–Thailand bilateral relations from the perspective of an emerging security partnership in the complex labyrinth of relationships in the Indo-Pacific.
Student movements in the mid-1970s pushed Thailand toward democratization, but not without great cost. Perceived threats to the Thai monarchy and legitimacy of the military government led to brutal ...acts of state violence and repression, culminating in the 1976 Thammasat Massacre. More than forty years later, student groups have emerged to protest environmental, social justice, and political rights violations—also under the threat of state repression. Using Gene Sharp’s consent of power theory, which suggests that political power resides within individuals and rulers derive their power from the consent of their subjects, we approach the current political climate in Thailand through the actions of the Dao Din group, a network of students originally from the Faculty of Law at Khon Kaen University. Through a review of primary sources, secondary literature, and a series of unstructured interviews with student activists from Northeastern Thailand, we argue that the contemporary student movement has helped undermine popular legitimacy of Thai coup makers. However, mass mobilization and dissemination of political messaging has remained a challenge due to the severity of state repression. Despite these difficulties, we argue that the Thai junta’s repression tactics have not been completely successful in eroding the political power of student-led movements.
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