Carl Middleton | Chulalongkorn University (original) (raw)

Journal articles by Carl Middleton

TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 2021

Myanmar was under a military government for almost six decades, during which time the state maint... more Myanmar was under a military government for almost six decades, during which time the state maintained an 'authoritarian public sphere' that limited independent civil society, mass media and the population's access to information. In 2010, Myanmar held flawed elections that installed a semi-civilian government and established a hybrid governance regime, within which civil, political and media freedoms expanded while the military's influence remained significant. In this paper, we examine 'hybrid governance at work' in the 'hybrid public sphere', that holds in tension elements of an authoritarian and democratic public sphere. The boundaries of these spheres are demarcated through legal means, including the 2008 military-created Constitution, associated judicial and administrative state structures and the actions of civil society and community movements toward political, military and bureaucratic elite actors. We develop our analysis first through an assessment of Myanmar's political transition at the national level and, then, in an empirical case of subnational politics in Dawei City regarding the planning of the electricity supply. We suggest that the hybrid public sphere enables discourses-associated with authoritarian popularist politics in Myanmar-that build legitimacy amongst the majority while limiting the circulation of critical discourses of marginalized groups and others challenging government policies. We conclude that for substantive democracy to deepen in Myanmar, civil society and media must actively reinforce the opportunity to produce and circulate critical discourse while also facilitating inclusive debates and consolidating legislated civil, political and media freedoms. On 1 February 2021, shortly after this article was finalized, a military coup d'état detained elected leaders and contracted the post-2010 hybrid public sphere, including constraining access to information via control of the internet and mass media and severely limiting civil and political rights.

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 2020

Equitable and reasonable utilization (ERU), the cornerstone of international water law, recognize... more Equitable and reasonable utilization (ERU), the cornerstone of international water law, recognizes the rights of states to utilize shared water resources. However, there is ambiguity in ERU's application, and upstream states often perceive it as against their interests. Recent research highlights the important role reciprocity plays in international water law, yet how reciprocity is practiced in transboundary water governance remains poorly understood. Combining literature on international law, hydropolitics and international relations, this article conceptualizes 'reciprocity in practice' for international watercourses as interconnected legal, social and political processes by which state and non-state actors negotiate ERU and distribute benefits and harms. We pay particular attention to power relations and perceptions of fairness that influence the form and (dis)continuity of reciprocity. We demonstrate our approach through an analysis of evolving legal regimes and issues of navigation , hydropower, flood and drought management, and economic regionalization in the Lancang-Mekong basin, focusing on relations between China and downstream states. We demonstrate how multiple forms of reciprocity occur simultaneously across issues that are often analyzed individually, complicating common narratives of China's unilateralism. We show, however, that practiced positive reciprocity is weak and exclusive, generating distrust and resistance from those excluded or who experience harms. Overall, we suggest that processes of 'reciprocity in practice' are at the heart of meaningful negotiation, insti-tutionalization and practice of ERU, and that, as a model of water allocation, ERU should be contextualized to wider process of allocation of benefits and harms that include but go beyond water, and in which power relations fundamentally matter.

Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 2020

Viewing the Salween River as a transboundary commons, this paper illustrates how diverse state an... more Viewing the Salween River as a transboundary commons, this paper illustrates how diverse state and non-state actors and institutions in hybrid and multi-scaled networks have influenced water governance in general , and large dam decision-making processes in particular. Putting power relations at the centre of this analysis and drawing on the conceptual lenses of hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, we show the complexity of the fragmented processes through which decisions have been arrived at, and their implications. In the context of highly asymmetrical power relations throughout the basin, and the absence of an intergovernmental agreement to date, we argue that hybrid networks of state and non-state actors could be strategically engaged to connect parallel and fragmented decision-making landscapes with a goal of inclusively institutionalising the transboundary commons and maintaining connected local commons throughout the basin, foregrounding a concern for ecological and social justice.

Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 2020

In this paper, with a focus on Japan and Thailand, we outline a relational environmental and econ... more In this paper, with a focus on Japan and Thailand, we outline a relational environmental and economic history of East Asian economic integration (EAEI) and its implication for the commons in both places. We draw attention in particular to global commodity chains as relational processes not only of trade and investment, but also geopolitics and aid, to argue that these transborder processes have connected together commons in distant localities resulting in their simultaneous enclosure, dispossession and (re-)commoning with implications for community vulnerabilities in positive and negative ways. To demonstrate this argument we analyse three periods of EAEI: the late nineteenth century until World War II, when Japan and Thailand both began to modernise and new trade and geopolitical relations emerged in the context of colonialism; the post-World War II recovery until the Plaza Accord in 1986, during which time Japan rapidly industrialised, as did Thailand to a lesser extent and regionalism was largely defined by US hegemony; and the post-Plaza Accord period, when Japan deindustrialised its labour intensive manufacture and heavy industry and Thailand rapidly industrialised and EAEI became defined by new and intensified global commodity chains.

Political Geography, 2020

In this paper, we question an often-unchallenged assumption that we all talk about the same 'thin... more In this paper, we question an often-unchallenged assumption that we all talk about the same 'thing' when talking about water. Taking the Salween River in Myanmar as a case study, we draw on a growing body of hydrosocial literature to analyze the multiple ontologies of water. Conceptually, we take each ontology to be constituted of-and enacted within-a human-more-than-human assemblage, the spatiotemporal dimensions of which demar-cate a 'hydrosocial territory.' We present three illustrations, namely: the role of the Union Government's National Water Resources Committee and how it manifests and is situated within an ontology of 'modern Water'; a Karen indigenous initiative to establish a Salween Peace Park and an associated revealing of an 'indigenous' ontology; and plans for the construction of mainstream hydropower dams and electricity export to neighboring Thailand, where different water ontologies and their hydrosocial territories collide. We examine how multiple ontologies of water are contested through 'ontological politics', whereby human actors compete to further their own interests by naturalizing their ontology while marginalizing others. While not downplaying the role violent conflict plays, we argue that in the Salween basin ontological politics are an underappreciated terrain of contestation through which political authority and the power relations that underpin it are (re)produced, with implications for processes of state formation, territorialization and the ongoing peace negotiations.

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2019

This article examines how hybrid environmental governance produces, maintains, and reconfigures c... more This article examines how hybrid environmental governance produces, maintains, and reconfigures common property across transboundary geographies of resource access, use, and ownership. Transboundary commons are a category of environmental goods that traverse jurisdictions and property regimes within as well as between nation-states. They are forged through collaborative partnerships between spatially dispersed state, private-sector, and societal institutions and actors. This article disaggregates these transboundary commoning arrangements into two geographically discrete yet conceptually intertwined categories of governance: mobile commons and in situ commons. We ground our enquiry in Southeast Asia, a resource-rich region where diverse formal and informal practices of resource organization blur the boundaries of environmental governance. Whereas environmental commons are often analyzed in terms of resource rights and entitlements, this article argues that a focus on power relations offers a more productive analytical lens through which to understand the dynamic and networked ways in which transboundary common property is continually being (re)made through processes of hybrid governance in response to changing ecological systems and shifting social realities.

Austrian Journal of Southeast Asia Studies, 2018

This article examines the role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and transnational ci... more This article examines the role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and transnational civil society in pursing Extraterritorial Obligation (ETO) cases in Southeast Asia as a means to investigate human rights threatened by cross-border investment projects. Two large hydropower dams under construction in Laos submitted to NHRIs from Thailand and Malaysia, namely the Xayaburi Dam and Don Sahong Dam, are detailed as case studies. The article argues that the emergence of ETOs in Southeast Asia, and its future potential, is dependent upon the collaborative relationship between the NHRIs and transnational civil society networks. Whilst NHRIs are in positions of political authority to investigate cases, civil society also enable cases through networking, research, and public advocacy. Further institutionalization of ETOs is significant to emerging regional and global agendas on business and human rights, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights that both the Thai and Malaysian governments have expressed commitment to. However, in Thailand and its neighboring countries where investments are located there has been an authoritarian turn. Reflecting this, there are weakening mandates of NHRIs and reduced civil and political freedoms upon which civil society depends that challenges the ability to investigate and pursue cases.

Illegal trade in chemicals and waste has brought severe negative impacts to human health and the ... more Illegal trade in chemicals and waste has brought severe negative impacts to human health and the environment. Fragmentation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) has challenged implementation due to disconnects and inconsistencies between regimes that causes inefficiencies, overlapping norms, and duplication. Since the late 1990s, there have been proposals to cluster MEAs organizationally and functionally to create syn-ergies between them. This paper evaluates whether the proposition on clustering of MEAs has worked in practice through an empirical case study of the ''MEA Regional Enforcement Network (REN)''. MEA REN sought to cluster at the organizational and functional elements of the Basel Convention, the Rotterdam Convention, the Stockholm Convention, and the Montreal Protocol in South and Southeast Asia. Regarding organizational clustering, through co-organizing regional network meetings cross-MEA learning was enhanced and costs were saved, but co-locating regional offices proved more challenging. For the clustering of functional elements, MEA enforcement was ultimately strengthened through several joint initiatives across MEAs. However, not all functions could be clustered as anticipated, including data reporting due to incompatibility between the conventions and overall work-loads. The paper concludes with recommendations for future environmental enforcement.

Journal of Peasant Studies

We examine what we argue has been overlooked in the Cambodian context: the roles and practices of... more We examine what we argue has been overlooked in the Cambodian context: the roles and practices of women in relation to men and their complementary struggles to protest land grabbing and eviction, and subsequently rebuild community and state relations. We present research carried out in Cambodia in 2014–2015 in Kratie, the country’s most concessioned province. Through a feminist political ecology lens, we examine how protest and post-eviction community governance are defined as women’s or men’s work. Our case also reveals how ‘rebuilding’ gender relations in rural Cambodia simultaneously rebuilds uneven community and state relations.

The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new era of hydropolitics with a gro... more The countries sharing the Lancang-Mekong River are entering a new
era of hydropolitics with a growing number of hydropower dams
throughout the basin. Three ‘powersheds’, conceptualised as physical,
institutional and political constructs that connect dams to major power
markets in China, Thailand and Vietnam, are transforming the nature–
society relations of the watershed. In the process, new conditions
are produced within which the region’s hydropolitics unfold. This is
epitomised by the ‘Lancang-Mekong Cooperation’ framework, a new
initiative led by China that proposes programs on both economic
and water resource development, and anticipates hydrodiplomacy
via China’s dam-engineered control of the headwaters.

Illegal trade in hazardous waste and harmful chemicals has caused severe damage on human health a... more Illegal trade in hazardous waste and harmful chemicals has caused severe damage on human health and the environment, and brought
big challenges to countries to meet their commitments to related multilateral environmental agreements. Synergy-building, like
organising law enforcement operations, is critical to address illegal trade in waste and chemicals, and further improve the effectiveness
of environmental enforcement. This article discusses how and why law enforcement operations can help countries to implement
chemical and waste-related multilateral environmental agreements in a more efficient and effective way. The research explores key
barriers and factors for organising law enforcement operations, and recommends methods to improve law enforcement operations to
address illegal trade in hazardous waste and harmful chemicals.

International Journal of Water Governance, 2015

In mainland Southeast Asia, plans for extensive hydropower development and regional power trade a... more In mainland Southeast Asia, plans for extensive hydropower development and regional power trade are increasingly underway with implications for transboundary water governance. This paper maps out the context, drivers, tools and arenas of water and electricity decision making, and examines the linkages and disjunctures between regional electricity and water governance frameworks. In the Lower Mekong Basin, transboundary water governance has been shaped by the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission. Meanwhile, planning of regional power trade is being shaped by the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) program. These regional institutions are founded upon and interact with national institutions, and are molded by historical circumstances, regional geopolitics, and present day development pathways. Linkages between electricity governance and water governance, whilst generally weak and replete with power asymmetries, are identified including Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment tools. Disjunctures include state sovereignty and limited overlapping actors between electricity and water governance arenas. We argue that furthering deliberative tools that build upon existing linkages could catalyze greater interaction and contestation within arenas, and thus closen integration of regional water and electricity governance arrangements. The goal would be informed and democratized decision-making on meeting electricity demand whilst sustaining the multiple benefits that the region’s rivers’ provide.

Water Alternatives, Feb 2015

The nexus is still very much an immature concept. Although it is difficult to disagree with a vis... more The nexus is still very much an immature concept. Although it is difficult to disagree with a vision of integration between water, food and energy systems, there are fewer consensuses about what it means in reality. While some consider its framing to be too restrictive (excluding climate change and nature), particular actors see it as linked to green economy and poverty reduction, while others emphasise global scarcity and value chain management. The nexus debates, however, mask a bigger debate on resource inequality and access, contributing to social instability. Indeed, the market-technical framing of the nexus by the World Economic Forum, located in international business imperatives and global neoliberal policy hides political issues such as inequality, the manufacture of scarcity and international political economy and geopolitics. By addressing these, we then propose a new framing of the nexus.

Water Alternatives, Feb 2015

This article maps the rise of the water-energy-food 'nexus' as a research, policy and project age... more This article maps the rise of the water-energy-food 'nexus' as a research, policy and project agenda in mainland Southeast Asia. We argue that introducing the concept of environmental justice into the nexus, especially where narratives, trade-offs and outcomes are contested, could make better use of how the nexus is framed, understood and acted upon. With funding from high-income country donors, it is found to have diffused from a global policy arena into a regional one that includes international and regional organisations, academic networks, and civil society, and national politicians and government officials. The nexus is yet to be extensively grounded, however, into national policies and practices, and broad-based local demand for nexus-framed policies is currently limited. The article contends that if the nexus is to support stated aspirations for sustainable development and poverty reduction, then it should engage more directly in identifying winners and losers in natural resource decision-making, the politics involved, and ultimately with the issue of justice. In order to do so, it links the nexus to the concept of environmental justice via boundary concepts, namely: sustainable development; the green economy; scarcity and addressing of trade-offs; and governance at, and across, the local, national and transnational scale.

Water Alternatives, Nov 2014

This article explores whether new arenas of engagement for water governance have been created and... more This article explores whether new arenas of engagement for water governance have been created and utilised following the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) in large hydropower projects in Vietnam. Initial optimism for climate finance – in particular amongst Northern aid providers and private CDM consultants – resulted in a boom in registration of CDM hydropower projects in Vietnam. These plans, however, have since then busted. The article utilises a multi-scale and multi-place network governance analysis of the water governance-climate finance nexus, based on interviews with government officials, consultants, developers, NGOs, multilateral and international banks, and project-affected people at the Song Bung 2 and Song Bung 4 hydropower projects in Central Vietnam. Particular attention is paid to how the place-based nature of organisations shapes the ability of these actors to participate in decision-making. The article concludes that the CDM has had little impact on water governance in Vietnam at the project level in terms of carbon reduction (additionality) or attaining sustainable development objectives. Furthermore, whilst climate finance has the potential to open new, more transparent and more accountable arenas of water governance, current arenas of the water governance-climate finance nexus are 'rendered technical', and therefore often underutilised and inaccessible to civil society and project-affected people.

Social Science Journal, 2013

Within the Mekong River basin, an extensive program of large hydropower dam construction is in pr... more Within the Mekong River basin, an extensive program of large hydropower dam construction is in progress. Whilst economic or politically feasible large hydropower dam construction in Thailand and Vietnam – and to a lesser extent the upper Mekong (Lancang) in Yunnan Province, China - is now increasingly exploited, in Laos and Cambodia significant unexploited hydropower potential remains. Here, plans for new hydropower dam construction are principally a joint endeavor between the private sector and state agencies. The region’s large hydropower dam construction is taking place within a context of deepening regional economic integration, including cross-border electricity trade that facilitates hydropower dam construction, and is shaped by a measured degree of variegated neoliberalization that is reflected in government policies on water resources development and energy security, as well as broader macroeconomic policy.

This paper first outlines the new political economy of hydropower development in the Mekong basin including the partial-liberalization of Thailand and Vietnam’s electricity sectors, and the neoliberalization of hydropower dam construction in Laos and Cambodia. The paper then proposes the concept of “partial enclosure” to explain how non-local impacts caused by hydropower dam construction on regional commons constitute a form of enclosure. Under the condition of “partial enclosure,” regional common pool resources may become degraded but not necessarily decimated which can still result in significant impacts to communities who depend upon these resources for their wellbeing. The concept of “partial enclosure” is applied to three forms of transboundary commons of the Mekong River: the temporal characteristics of Mekong River’s flood pulse; sediment movements; and migratory fisheries. It is argued that given the neoliberalizing policies in the region’s electricity and water sectors, and the growing role of the private sector in hydropower development that is converting resources previously held as commons to privatized ones, the notion of enclosure is particularly apt and the enclosure of the river’s common pool resources is now well underway.

The Xayaburi Dam is a 1,260 megawatts project proposed to be built on the Mekong River’s mainstre... more The Xayaburi Dam is a 1,260 megawatts project proposed to be built on the Mekong River’s mainstream in Xayaburi Province, Lao PDR. The project’s lead developer is the Thai construction company Ch. Karnchang, the proposed financiers are Thai commercial banks, and 95 percent of the electricity generated would be exported to Thailand. This paper determines how the Xayaburi Dam could affect human security at the regional scale and in the locality of the project, and evaluates the extent to which decision-making through the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission and the energy planning process in Thailand has accounted for these potential changes in human security. Overall, the paper seeks to determine how does the political economy of regional economic integration acknowledge, account for, and in turn could shape changes to human security at the local and regional levels in the case of the proposed Xayaburi Dam.

Flooding has long shaped the societies and cultures of monsoonal Southeast Asia. The experience o... more Flooding has long shaped the societies and cultures of monsoonal Southeast Asia. The experience of flooding is different between people according to livelihood, location, socio-economic group and political voice, and ‘vulnerability’ to flooding reflects a larger picture of socio-economic and political inequality. This paper examines how the predominantly beneficial flood regime of the Mekong River basin sustains and how it is intimately tied to the highly productive floodplain and river ecosystem that support agriculture and wild capture fisheries and are central to the food security and the livelihoods of millions of people. As the region undergoes processes of economic integration, industrialization, and urbanization, plans for large-scale hydropower dams and irrigation schemes are being pursued extensively throughout the basin. Using the tools of political ecology, the paper considers how people and society reflexively interact with ‘nature’ to conceptualize the Mekong River’s flood regime as a ‘social-natural assemblage.’ The paper outlines how the Mekong River’s flood regime and ecosystems will change if these plans proceed, and points out what the risks and their consequences are for people who are vulnerable to losing access to benefits that the river’s current flood regime provides. The paper concludes by discussing these changes from the perspective of environmental justice and identifies the need: to build multi-scaled institutions that ensure the equal voice of all people in decision-making not as a privilege but as a right; to bridge the polemic gap between local and expert knowledge; and ultimately to acknowledge the embededness of people in nature.

Thailand is mainland South-East Asia’s largest energy consumer. Since the early 1990s, community ... more Thailand is mainland South-East Asia’s largest energy consumer. Since the early 1990s, community and civil society opposition to new domestic large-scale power projects has strengthened within Thailand. Partly in response and facilitated by deepening regional economic integration, Thailand’s electricity utility, private sector energy and construction companies have increasingly looked towards neighbouring Laos and Myanmar to supply Thailand’s energy markets. This paper assesses the political economy of Thailand’s power sector development through the lens of distributive and procedural environmental justice, including the role of social movements and civil society in Thailand in reforming the country’s power planning process. The environmental and social costs of domestic power projects and power import projects are discussed. The paper concludes that Thailand’s existing energy imports from hydropower projects in Laos and a gas project in Myanmar have exported environmental injustice associated with energy production across borders, exploiting the comparatively weaker rule of law, judicial systems, and civil and political freedoms in these neighbouring countries.

Book chapters by Carl Middleton

Climate Change, Disasters, and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach, 2021

Hat Yai City in Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand has regularly experienced flooding, with maj... more Hat Yai City in Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand has regularly experienced flooding, with major floods most recently in 1988, 2000 and 2010. Each flood caused loss of life, as well as significant economic damage and disruption to people’s lives, including displacement. The government’s response has evolved over time, as has its capacity to respond. Recovery responses in 1988 and 2000 emphasized investment in hard infrastructure (canals and embankments) to redirect flood water around the city, and to manage flood water better within it. The 2010 flood, however, led to the realization that it was not possible to fully “flood-proof” the city, leading to investment in soft infrastructure in an approach that has become known as the ‘Hat Yai model.’ This includes: improved flood warning; and strengthening local government, community, civil society and business capacity to live with floods and manage displacement locally over the several days that flooding occurs.

In this chapter, we critically evaluate the Hat Yai model, with a focus on how it has progressively reduced the extent that displacement occurs during flooding, and how preparedness measures have addressed displacement when it does occur. Our research is based on key informant interviews and indepth community interviews conducted in 2018. Overall, we find that the Hat Yai model demonstrates the positive efforts of the government and non-state actors to improve community resilience and address flood-induced displacement through hard and soft infrastructure means. Yet, there are still unresolved issues including: how the protection of Hat Yai city comes at the expense of prolonged or exacerbated flooding in other areas nearby to the city (i.e. risk redistribution); and that there remain especially marginalized communities in the city who regularly experience flooding with displacement with little state support or prospect for durable solutions.

TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 2021

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 2020

Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 2020

Political Geography, 2020

Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 2019

Austrian Journal of Southeast Asia Studies, 2018

Journal of Peasant Studies

International Journal of Water Governance, 2015

Water Alternatives, Feb 2015

Water Alternatives, Nov 2014

Social Science Journal, 2013

Climate Change, Disasters, and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach, 2021

Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River, 2019

This chapter examines the hydropower politics of the Salween River, with a focus on the projects ... more This chapter examines the hydropower politics of the Salween River, with a focus on the projects proposed in Myanmar and their connections with neighboring China and Thailand via electricity trade, investment, and regional geopolitics.

Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River, 2019

This chapter provides an overview of key arguments and concepts of the edited volume across three... more This chapter provides an overview of key arguments and concepts of the edited volume across three themes: resource politics, politics of making knowledge, and reconciling knowledge across divides.

Development and Climate Change in the Mekong Region, 2019

The Mekong Region contains extensive wetlands of high levels of biodiversity that have long provi... more The Mekong Region contains extensive wetlands of high levels of biodiversity that have long provided a wide range of ecosystem services that are equally important to human well-being. In many cases, these wetlands have long been important for agro-ecological production, including rice and vegetable farming, livestock raising, fishing and aquaculture, and the collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), thus supporting local livelihoods and economies.

Unfortunately, many wetlands in the Mekong Region have been degraded or even lost, largely due to agricultural intensification, large-scale water infrastructure development, and land use changes associated with urbanization The extensive loss of wetlands is a threat to sustainable economic development through the loss of core ecosystem services that they provide. It also threatens the enjoyment of a range of human rights, including the rights to life, health, food, water and culture. When traditional wetlands agro-ecological practices are lost, so too are the local knowledge and culture associated with them.

Addressing complex problems such as the loss of wetlands requires gathering and activating a range of different types of knowledge, including scientific (expert), local, practical, and political. In this chapter, we present three case studies of knowledge coproduction research in Thailand, Vietnam and Laos aimed at the more inclusive ecological governance of wetlands degraded by largescale water infrastructure and the recovery of associated agro-ecological systems and livelihoods. We consider knowledge coproduction to be the dynamic interaction of multiple actors, each with their own types of knowledge, who coproduce new usable knowledge specific to their environmental, sociopolitical and cultural context and that can influence decision-making and actions on the ground. We argue that the knowledge coproduction approach enables research to move beyond weak forms of “participation” and towards social learning that builds trust, partnership and ownership among actors, and can generate innovative solutions for wetland and livelihood recovery.

In the 1990s, the global hydropower industry – in particular the industry of Northern countries –... more In the 1990s, the global hydropower industry – in particular the industry of Northern countries – was facing a growing crisis of legitimacy. Opponents of large dams grew in numbers and became increasingly vocal, claiming that development benefits were exaggerated. This cumulated in the publication of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) report in 2000, which affirmed many of the opponents’ criticisms. In this context, the World Bank, seeking a means to once again finance large hydropower, put forward the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower project as a new, best-practice approach. Meanwhile, the International Hydropower Association (IHA) sought to counter the WCD with its own sustainability guidelines in 2004 and subsequently a Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) launched in 2011. From this significant and combined effort of large am proponents emerged the policy discourse of “sustainable hydropower,” the purpose of which was to re-legitimize the industry.

This chapter deconstructs how NT2 has been discursively produced as a “brand” and woven in to the “sustainable hydropower” discourse. The chapter argues that in public the World Bank and the hydropower industry have regularly drawn on the NT2 as a model to legitimize their claim that “sustainable hydropower” can exist. Needless to say, this claim is fiercely disputed. Indeed, behind closed doors amongst the project’s proponents and in specialist hydropower industry conferences, more provisos and nuances are considered that bracket the public claims of success. The chapter also addresses how NT2 has been represented in regional and global debates on “sustainable hydropower,” for example in relation to the Hydropower Sustainabilty Assessment Protocol led by the International Hydropower Association.

Flooding is a common experience in monsoonal regions of Southeast Asia, where diverse flood regim... more Flooding is a common experience in monsoonal regions of Southeast Asia, where diverse flood regimes have for centuries shaped agrarian and fisheries-based livelihoods. However, in recent public discourse, the link between flooding and migration is most often made with regard to catastrophic flood events. News images of frequent and intense weather-related flood events in the region’s low-lying megacity and delta regions in recent years has contributed to a perceived link between extreme environmental events and mass migration through displacement. Yet, this focus on mass displacement frames migration in largely negative terms. Mobility is seen as a failure of adaptation to a changing environment, with both trans-border and internal population mobility to some even regarded as a security issue.
Yet, other kinds of stories linking migration and this catastrophic-type of flood do emerge, and these point to the need for a more nuanced and plural account of migration and mobility in relation to flood disasters. For example, shortly after Typhoon Haiyan, it became evident that Filipino migrants working abroad were finding ways of helping those back home who were affected by the disaster, bringing to bear not only their economic remittances but also their cultural and political capital in holding those responsible for the official disaster response to account. Thus, complex and seemingly contradictory links between migration and flood-related vulnerabilities emerged from this and similar events.
In this chapter, we propose a “mobile political ecology” conceptual framework for understanding how migration links to vulnerability and resilience across diverse environmental, social and policy contexts. Our aim is to complicate simple readings of environmental change – in particular flooding – as a singular driver of migration through exploring a diversity of flood-migration-vulnerability assemblages. Thus, we aim also to sensitize flood hazard policy agendas to the complexities of migration and mobility in Southeast Asia.

For over 1.7 million people within the floodplain of Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia, living with floods... more For over 1.7 million people within the floodplain of Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia, living with floods is both a way of and a source of life. Farmers and fishers benefit from the natural resources that the lake’s flood regime sustains, albeit in different ways. Fishers benefit from flooding for productive capture fisheries; and farmers benefit from the fertile soils nourished by the floodwaters, and the availability of water itself for their agriculture. Irregular flooding, however, can be detrimental or even disastrous, generating vulnerability: flooding that is too low or of too shorter duration results in less productive fisheries, shortage of water for agriculture and high pest incidence for dry season rice farming; whilst flooding that is prolonged or arrives too early shortens the farming season, and damages infrastructure, crops and livestock, although increases fish productivity.

This chapter shows how small-scale farmers and fishers around Tonle Sap Lake have been relatively resilient to flooding. However, changing flooding regimes have created more regular shocks for farmers, whilst declining fish stocks are increasing fishing households vulnerability. These flooding-related shocks and associated vulnerabilities link to the creation of debt for farmers and fishers, which influences the decision to send household members to migrate. Whether the incentive for migration is livelihood diversification or debt repayment, the influence of the Tonle Sap’s flood regime from year to year is significant as it is generative of the viability of farming and fishing livelihoods. Household livelihood viability and associated vulnerabilities, however, is in turn determined by social factors, such as the politics and contestations over access to resources in the village, as well as national level policies on fisheries and farming and transboundary water governance.

Impact assessment tools for water governance, such as environment impact assessments, are arenas ... more Impact assessment tools for water governance, such as environment impact assessments, are arenas of contested knowledge production. Over the past decade, the effectiveness of impact assessment tools in enabling inclusive, sustainable, and equitable decision-making in water governance has been intensively studied. The politics of expert knowledge versus situational knowledge (commonly named “local knowledge”) has also been extensively considered, including the discourses it produces and the power relations in play.
In Thailand, uniquely for the Mekong region, health impact assessment (HIA) has gained significant traction. Emerging from widespread support for ‘healthy public policy’ in Thailand since 2000, HIA was legislated into Thailand’s 2007 National Constitution and the National Health Act (2007). There are four approaches to HIA in Thailand, of which two are most commonly practiced: Environment Health Impact Assessment (EHIA) and Community Health Impact Assessment (CHIA).
EHIA are expert-led and emphasize scientific knowledge production, in particular on health impacts due to changes in the physical and biological environment. Public consultation is given a reasonably significant role, yet psychological, social and spiritual factors of health often raised by consulted communities remain downplayed as insufficiently scientific. Meanwhile, CHIA is community-led with support from the National Health Commission Office (NHCO) and civil society groups. The CHIA knowledge production process emphasizes the importance of community learning about the impacts of planned projects and policies on community health, and therefore can be viewed as an empowerment process.
This chapter illustrates how the Khao Hinsorn community in Thailand undertook a CHIA as a means to challenge an expert-led EHIA that backs a proposed coal-fired power station near their community. We argue that CHIA has emerged as an important and strategic collective action response in Thailand, which has contributed towards social learning and community empowerment, and thus enabled the contestation of unequal power relations within knowledge production with implications for social justice outcomes. Through the CHIA, the Khao Hinsorn community successfully revealed shortcomings in the scientific EHIA, and in the process broadened the definition of legitimate knowledge considered within formal state-led decision-making processes.

Handbook of the Environment in Southeast Asia, 2017

This chapter examines the transition from state-led hydrocracies to increasingly liberalized mode... more This chapter examines the transition from state-led hydrocracies to increasingly liberalized modes of water resources development in mainland Southeast Asia, with a focus on large hydropower dams on transboundary rivers. Access to, use of and control over water is highly politicized, and an increasingly diverse assemblage of public, private and civil society actors are involved in water governance. The region’s major rivers, including the Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong and Red Rivers, are simultaneously seen as: engines of national and regional economic growth via hydropower and irrigated agriculture; the foundation of rural livelihoods; of significant conservation value; and as cultural cornerstones/ sacred places. The chapter shows that trends in the use of water resources cannot be decoupled from broader trends towards regional economic integration, industrialization and economic growth, and that ecosystems and biodiversity are under increasing pressure, as are the rural livelihoods that depend upon these resources. The chapter argues that whilst state agencies with water-related mandates remain important, the interests of the private sector are of growing influence, especially for large hydropower dams. The chapter concludes that as electricity and water governance are increasingly intertwined, poor transparency and accountability in electricity planning represents a significant challenge to improving water governance outcomes.

Rethinking Development Studies in Southeast Asia: State of Knowledge and Challenges

Water Governance Dynamics in the Mekong Region , Nov 2016

Handbook on Sustainability Transition and Sustainable Peace. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace 10, 2016

The chapter explains the creation and resistance to change of Thailand’s centralized and fossil-f... more The chapter explains the creation and resistance to change of Thailand’s centralized and fossil-fuel intensive electricity regime through a Sustainability Transition and Multilevel Perspective lens, with an emphasis on the sector’s political economy. The incumbent electricity industry has evolved from a state-owned monopoly to a partially-privatized industry structure dominated by the state utility and several large independent power producers. The analysis demonstrates how important global landscape shifts articulate with the sector’s domestic
political economy, including a shifting global development paradigm from developmentalist state to liberal market principles, as well as the impact of waves of global economic crisis. The chapter highlights the role played by civil society coalitions in unsettling the incumbent electricity regime since the late 1970s, despite significant power asymmetries, through opposing problematic projects, advocating for progressive policy, and proposing alternative plans, values and visions for Thailand’s electricity sector. Important but small steps towards sustainability transition are identified, including greater energy conservation and distributed renewable energy generation, the creation of an independent regulator, and a small increase in public participation and accountability in the power planning process. The chapter argues that civil society has been—and will continue to be—important in shaping the incumbent electricity regime and often acts as a catalyst for transition towards sustainability.

Education For Sustainable Agriculture And Food Security in a Green ASEAN, 2015

This chapter aims to provide a better understanding of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) operati... more This chapter aims to provide a better understanding of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) operations in the agriculture sector. Widening inequality in Asia and other social and environmental shortcomings of the GDP-growth focused model of development has led governments, development agencies, and the ADB to recognise the need for a new model, summarised in recent years as the quest for inclusive growth. The ADB’s publication Asia 2050: Realizing the Asian Century, published in 2011, listed the following key challenges as major threats to inclusive growth in Asia: inequities within countries; the middle income trap; competition for finite natural resources; disparities across countries and subregions; global warming and climate change; and governance and institutional capacity. Within this context, food security is among the first challenges to be addressed in order to reduce poverty and move towards sustainable and equitable growth. The number of under-nourished people in Asia has decreased over the past decade both in percentage and absolute numbers. Yet, as of today, 13.9 percent of the Asia’s population, or 563 million people, are undernourished (FAO, IFAD and WFP, 2012).

The guiding question of this chapter is whether and how the ADB’s operations in the agriculture sector contribute to food security. An analysis of the ADB’s approach to agriculture in Asia is followed by an in-depth case study of an ADB agriculture project in Cambodia. In addition, the chapter analyses the importance of the ADB’s safeguard policies in the context of food security. The chapter argues that implementing safeguard policies diligently is necessary to prevent adverse impacts of ADB projects on food security, and can also contribute to bolstering food security. Despite this, the ADB’s current safeguards need to be strengthened to more specifically target food security. The chapter concludes that the ADB presently lacks a monitoring system which provides information on project outcomes in terms of food security. Without such a system, it will be very difficult for the ADB to determine whether its operations, and more specifically, its agriculture projects are contributing to improved livelihoods and food security at the community level.

Hydropower Development in the Mekong Region: Political, Socio-economic and Environmental Perspectives [Edited book; Earthscan], Jan 2015

The role of state and private sector in constructing large hydropower dams in the Mekong Region h... more The role of state and private sector in constructing large hydropower dams in the Mekong Region has shifted. Early projects since the 1960s in Thailand and Vietnam were principally conceived, built and operated by the relevant state agencies, typically with funding from the World Bank or the United States, and the Soviet Union respectively. Since the early 1990s, however, partial liberalization of the region’s power sector, alongside regional economic integration and regional power trade steered by the Greater Mekong Subregion programme, has increased the role of private sector energy and construction companies and financiers. Whereas in Thailand and Vietnam, all of the largest hydropower dam projects have been developed already as state-led projects, in Laos and Cambodia, which are both presently undergoing extensive and rapid hydropower development, Public–Private Partnerships (PPP) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) are the principal infrastructure investment vehicles. National policies and laws have facilitated this transition, promoted in particular by the World Bank, together with the International Finance Corporation and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The involvement of these actors and changes to policy reflect a global turn towards neoliberalism since the late 1970s in Northern countries that led to a roll-back of the state and the emergence of the PPP and BOT model for infrastructure development there, closely tied up with privatization processes of state activities.

This chapter adopts a political economy approach to examine how private sector investment have shaped the hydropower development process in the Mekong Basin and the approach of government, investors and developers. The chapter examines in particular the emergence and growing role of IPPs and private sector financing in Laos and Cambodia. We show how the divergent political economies of the two countries have resulted in different models of BOT/ PPP in large-scale hydropower development. The chapter argues that the actual distribution of project risk and benefit does not reflect the original rationale of BOT/ PPP, and in particular leaves the state, local communities, the environment, and electricity consumers with a disproportionate share of risk, to the benefit of the private sector developers and financiers. Yet, the governments of Cambodia and Laos also struggle to negotiate deals as they compete to attract international and regional capital. Overall, it is argued that the interests of IPPs are a significant factor driving hydropower development in the Mekong Basin, shaping energy planning in Thailand and Vietnam, and relevant law and policy on hydropower development in Cambodia and Laos.

Livelihoods, ecosystem services and the challenges of regional integration in the Mekong Region. [Edited book; SIRD], 2014

In the Mekong region, a growing proportion of the population lives and works in urban areas. At b... more In the Mekong region, a growing proportion of the population lives and works in urban areas. At best, urban areas, as centers of economic growth, employment, education, and innovation can offer opportunities for economic and social development and cultural enrichment. At worst, urban areas, as centers where there is a lack of basic services, employment opportunity, and decent housing are places of poverty and environmental degradation. Ensuring that urbanization is sustainable and fair is one of the greatest challenges facing policymakers and the public in the region. The chapter maps out the opportunities, challenges, and prospects for urbanization in the Mekong region. The chapter highlights how the experience of urbanization differs by socioeconomic groups, and that creating livable cities for all inevitably is, and will continue to be, an intensely political process. Managerial and institutional deficits in urban planning are often identified as important reasons for environmental and social shortcomings in the region’s urbanization processes, where influential international and domestic investors and large urban landholders have often bypassed planning processes and regulations. Counterbalancing these interests in the pursuit of livable cities requires democratized, deliberative, and decentralized decision-making, accountable government, and the participation of empowered citizens. The chapter argues that creating livable cities and ensuring sustainable urbanization can only be attained in the context of ensuring sustainability across the wider region. Therefore, it is crucial that the interconnectedness between urban areas and rural hinterlands—for example the flows of people, finances, resources, and waste—are recognized and accounted for in decision-making, including those that are principally considered as urban.

On the Move: Critical Migration Themes in Southeast Asia , 2013

This book chapter considers the human security of fishing–farming communities living around the T... more This book chapter considers the human security of fishing–farming communities living around the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia, whose lives are intimately shaped by the ebb and flow of the lake’s seasonal flooding. The chapter examines in particular how the different types of flood regime (regular and irregular) modify fishing- and farming-based livelihoods and the role that migration plays in reducing household vulnerability, in particular in the context of fisheries decline, agricultural intensification, and long-standing inequities in access to land and natural resources. The chapter reveals that migration is, nowadays, an important means that households adopt to reduce vulnerability in the communities visited, yet both government policies and development interventions rarely recognize the significant role that migration plays. The chapter highlight the need for a better understanding of the potential synergies of policies on agriculture, fisheries and migration, which at present are fragmented.

This open access book focuses on the Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, that ... more This open access book focuses on the Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, that is increasingly at the heart of pressing regional development debates. The basin supports the livelihoods of over 10 million people, and within it there is great socio-economic, cultural and political diversity. The basin is witnessing intensifying dynamics of resource extraction, alongside large dam construction, conservation and development intervention, that is unfolding within a complex terrain of local, national and transnational governance. With a focus on the contested politics of water and associated resources in the Salween basin, this book offers a collection of empirical case studies that highlights local knowledge and perspectives. Given the paucity of grounded social science studies in this contested basin, this book provides conceptual insights at the intersection of resource governance, development, and politics of knowledge relevant to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners at a time when rapid change is underway.

- Fills a significant knowledge gap on a major river in Southeast Asia, with empirical and conceptual contributions

- Inter-disciplinary perspective and by a range of writers, including academics, policy-makers and civil society researchers, the majority from within Southeast Asia

- New policy insights on a river at the cross-roads of a major political and development transition

This book contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between migration, vulnerabil... more This book contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between migration, vulnerability, resilience and social justice associated with flooding across diverse environmental, social and policy contexts in Southeast Asia. It challenges simple analyses of flooding as a singular driver of migration, and instead considers the ways in which floods figure in migration-based livelihoods and amongst already mobile populations.

The book develops a conceptual framework based on a ‘mobile political ecology’ in which particular attention is paid to the multi-dimensionality, temporalities and geographies of vulnerability. Rather than simply emphasizing the capacities (or lack thereof) of individuals and households, the focus is on identifying factors that instigate, manage and perpetuate vulnerable populations and places: these include the socio-political dynamics of floods, flood hazards and risky environments, migration and migrant-based livelihoods, and the policy environments through which all of these take shape.

The book is organised around a series of eight empirical urban and rural case studies from countries in Southeast Asia, where lives are marked by mobility and by floods associated with the region’s monsoonal climate. The concluding chapter synthesizes the insights of the case studies, and suggestions future policy directions. Together, the chapters highlight critical policy questions around the governance of migration, institutionalized disaster response strategies and broader development agendas.

Environmental questions are at the heart of many development dilemmas in Southeast Asia. New acto... more Environmental questions are at the heart of many development dilemmas in Southeast Asia. New actors and technologies, changing domestic politics, policies, and economies - as well as shifting geopolitical contexts, are remaking nature-society relations in the region. A failure to address transnational environmental challenges could not only undermine ASEAN’s legitimacy but also have drastic consequences for the region’s security and its political and economic stability. In addressing these questions in Work Package 1 (WP1), we are particularly concerned with contested knowledges of “the commons” and competition over resources. We consider the environment as a driver of processes of regional integration, but also of conflicts between various actors in the region. Our research focuses on three environmental contexts namely: sea; rivers; and air. In addressing all three our emphasis is on the transition to a low-carbon economy. The aim of this paper is to present the theoretical framework of our work as well as the three main strands of our research. In the first section, we explain our understanding of the concept of ecological knowledge. This is followed by a presentation of our methodological approaches, while the last section presents the individual research projects in the WP, arranged in three modules.

Book, 2019

The world of development thinkers and practitioners is abuzz with a new lexicon: the idea of "the... more The world of development thinkers and practitioners is abuzz with a new lexicon: the idea of "the nexus" between water, food, and energy which is intuitively compelling. It promises better integration of multiple sectoral elements, a better transition to greener economies, and sustainable development. However, there appears to be little agreement on its precise meaning, whether it only complements existing environmental governance approaches or how it can be enhanced in national contexts. One current approach to the nexus treats it as a risk and security matter while another treats it within economic rationality addressing externalities across sector. A third perspective acknowledges it as a fundamentally political process requiring negotiation amongst different actors with distinct perceptions, interests, and practices. This perspective highlights the fact that technical solutions for improving coherence within the nexus may have unintended and negative impacts in other policy areas, such as poverty alleviation and education.

The Water–Food–Energy Nexus: Power, Politics and Justice lays out the managerial-technical definitions of the nexus and challenges these conceptions by bringing to the forefront the politics of the nexus, around two key dimensions – a dynamic understanding of water–food–energy systems, and a normative positioning around nexus debates, in particular around social justice. The authors argue that a shift in nexus governance is required towards approaches where limits to control are acknowledged, and more reflexive/plural strategies adopted.
This book will be of interest to academic researchers, policy makers, and practitioners in the fields of international development studies, environmental politics, and science and technology studies, as well as international relations.

Ecology and Society, 2021

Unsustainable models of growth-based development are pushing aquatic ecologies outside known hist... more Unsustainable models of growth-based development are pushing aquatic ecologies outside known historical ranges and destabilizing human activities that have long depended on them. We develop the concept of hydrosocial rupture to explore how humanwater resource connections change when they are exposed to cumulative development pressures. The research analyzes stakeholder perceptions of hydrosocial ruptures in two sites in Southeast Asia: (1) peatlands in Riau Province, Indonesia, and (2) Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia. In both contexts, capital-driven processes have reconfigured human-water resource connections to generate transgressive social and environmental consequence that cannot be contained within administrative units or property boundaries. Our findings show how these ruptured hydrosocial relations are perceived and acted upon by the most proximate users of water resources. In Cambodia, a policy of resettlement has sought to thin hydrosocial relations in response to biodiversity loss, chronic pollution. and changing hydrology in Tonle Sap Lake. By contrast, in Indonesia's Riau Province, efforts are underway to thicken human-water relations by hydrologically rehabilitating peatlands drained for agricultural development. We argue that in both of these contexts hydrosocial ruptures should be understood as phenomena of transboundary governance that cannot be addressed by individual groups of users, sectors, or jurisdictions.