Yesterday I participated in a ‘Myanmar-UK policy dialogue’ organised by the British Council entitled ‘Myanmar: a new future through higher education?’ This got quite a lot of coverage yesterday because the keynote address was given remotely by Aung San Suu Kyi who asked for Britain’s help in reconstructing Myanmar’s dilapidated university system (BBC, Times Higher, [...]
I appeared on Monocle 24 last night with Dr Justin Watkins of SOAS to discuss Aung San Suu Kyi’s first appearance at an Armed Forces Day parade, arguing that it reflects her need to assuage fears among the military – still Myanmar’s most powerful political force – about the potential consequences of her becoming president [...]
I appeared on Monocle 24 last night to discuss the communal violence that has plagued the Meikhtila area of central Myanmar for the last four days. You can listen to the show here. The item is introduced at the beginning of the programme and I am brought on about 16 minutes in.
I was on Monocle 24 again last night discussing the latest developments in Asia. Weibo alters China’s environmental debate – FT [Myanmar] Govt Sends Controversial Press Law to Parliament – Irrawaddy Cambodia Khmer Rouge tribunal staff go on strike – AP N Korea builds mysterious “panorama museum” in Cambodia – Kyodo You can listen to [...]
My new article has appeared ‘early online‘ in the Journal of Contemporary Asia. Here is the abstract. Since holding elections in 2010, Myanmar has transitioned from a direct military dictatorship to a formally democratic system and has embarked on a period of rapid economic reform. After two decades of military rule, the pace of change [...]
I was on Monocle 24 again last night, to discuss the following items: Japan protests over China ship’s radar pointed at vessel – South China Morning Post Beijing Court Takes Rare Swipe at ‘Black Jail’ System – Wall St Journal Gerald Giam: no increase in foreign workers if resident workforce grows at 1 per cent [...]
I was on Monocle24 again last night, discussing some news items in Asia: Markets cheer Japan conservatives’ return to power- Shinzo Abe is back as Japan’s PM, but while markets have reacted favourably, Japan’s neighbours are cool. China rounds up members of doomsday cult – this has been linked to the school stabbings in Chenpeng, [...]
According to today’s Observer, a Swedish company is to be allowed to set up a for-profit school in Britain. Although this development is described as the exploitation of a technicality, actually it seems to reflect the government’s wider strategy for restoring capital accumulation in the wake of the global financial crisis. Theorists from a number [...]
This is the title of my chapter in the newly-published Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. As a very junior scholar, it was a real privilege to be asked to contribute to this volume, which assembled a really stellar cast of authors, some of them reflecting on or summing up decades of brilliant scholarly work. [...]
A freedom of information (FOI) request by tobacco giant Philip Morris for the data behind an academic study on teenage smoking habits recently caused considerable outcry. Naturally, the company was seen as trying to subvert the research for its own nefarious purposes and Stirling University consequently resisted. They should not have. Not because FOI itself [...]