CSEAS > About Staff > CHACHAVALPONGPUN, Pavin(Associate Professor)

CHACHAVALPONGPUN, Pavin

Associate Professor
Division of Economic and Political Dynamics
Political Science and International Relations
B.A. in Political Science, Chulalongkorn University (1993)
Ph.D. in Political Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (2002)

Current Research Interests

Domestic politics and international relations of Thailand
Politics of mainland Southeast Asia and interstate relations
Regional integration and ASEAN

Field-trip at Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Temple, February 2012.

I have a broad interest in the politics of Southeast Asia. As a native Thai, my predominant interest has been in Thai domestic politics which is characterised by long years of turmoil following the military coup of 2006. My particular focus is on the role of the Thai military and monarchy in politics and the emergence of the people sector and its search for more political space to complement Thailand’s ongoing democratisation. Currently, I am editing a book entitled “Good Coup Gone Bad: Thailand’s Political Developments since Thaksin’s Downfall”. This book is the product of a conference held in Singapore in 2011 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Thai coup. It is expected to be released at the end of 2012. Meanwhile, I have also conducted substantial research on Thailand’s foreign policy, especially during the Thaksin Shinawatra period. My book “Reinventing Thailand: Thaksin and His Foreign Policy” was launched in 2010. Continuing my interest in Thailand’s foreign relations, I am currently working on a book project, “Thai-Cambodian Conflict: Nature and Solutions”, together with two scholars; one each from Thailand and Cambodia. In February 2012, I spent a brief period in Cambodia and Thailand as part of a field-trip, and had many opportunities to interview policy makers and visit the Preah Vihear/Phra Wihan Temple which remains a sore point in Thai-Cambodian relations.

Apart from my interest in the politics of individual countries in mainland Southeast Asia, I have also explored the organisational development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). As a former member of the ASEAN Studies Centre at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, I led a number of book projects related to the political and security affairs of ASEAN, including books (as editor) on the effectiveness of the ASEAN Charter, relations between ASEAN and the United States, and the conflict in the South China Sea. Besides this, I have a particular interest in the present political developments in Myanmar and its impact on the dynamism within ASEAN.

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Publications

Books and Monographs:

Reinventing Thailand: Thaksin Shinawatra and His Foreign Policy (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010).

Myanmar: Life after Nargis, co-authored with Moe Thuzar (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009).

A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations (University Press of America, 2005/ISEAS, 2010).

Edited Volumes:

Good Coup Gone Bad: Thailand’s Political Developments since Thaksin’s Downfall, editor, (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, forthcoming, 2012).

Entering the Uncharted Waters: ASEAN and the South China Sea Dispute, editor (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, forthcoming, 2012).

Bangkok, May 2010: Perspectives on a Divided Thailand, co-edited with Michael J. Montesano and Aekapol Chongvilaivan (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012).

ASEAN-US Relations: What are the Talking Points?, editor, ASEAN Studies Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011).

The Road to Ratification and Implication of the ASEAN Charter, editor, ASEAN Studies Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Report No.3 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009).

Book Chapters:

“Thai Democracy at the Dangerous Crossroads”, in Democracy in Eastern Asia, edited by Edmund Fung and Steven Drakeley (London: Routledge, forthcoming 2013).

“Thailand: The Enigma of Bamboo Policy”, in Handbook on Diplomacy and Statecraft, edited by Brian McKercher (London: Routledge, 2011).

“Digital Diplomacy in Southeast Asia”, in Rethinking Diplomacy: New Approaches and Domestic Challenges in East Asia and European Union, edited by Lam Peng Er and Colin Durkop (Seoul: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2011).

“Thaksin, the Military, and Thailand's Protracted Political Crisis”, The Political Resurgence of the Military in Southeast Asia, edited by Marcus Mietzner (London: Routledge, 2011).

“Thai Political Parties in the Age of the Great Divide”, Political Parties, Party Systems and Democratisation in East Asia, edited by, Liang Fook Lye and Wilhelm Hofmeister (Singapore: World Scientific, 2011).

“Sue Online: Plian Bhumitad Karnmuang Thai” [Online Media: Changing View of Thailand Political Landscape], in Sue Online: Born to be Democracy [Online Media: Born to be Democracy], (Bangkok: Prachathai Bookclub, 2011).

“Exporting Threats, Transmitting Instability: Conflicts in Myanmar, Effect on Thailand”, in Internal Conflicts in Myanmar: Transnational Consequences, edited by V R Raghavan (New Delhi: Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 2011).

“Temple of Doom: Hysteria about the Preah Vihear Temple in the Thai Nationalist Discourse”, Legitimacy Crisis in Thailand, edited by Marc Askew (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2010).

The Last Bus to Naypyidaw”, Myanmar/Burma: Inside Challenges, Outside Interests, edited by Lex Rieffel (Washington DC: Brookings Institution, 2010).

“Thai-Burmese Relations: Old Animosity in a New Bilateral Setting”, in Bilateralism Versus Multilateralism in Southeast Asia, edited by N. Ganesan and Ramses Amer, (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010).

”Thailand: Bending with the (Chinese) Wind?”, in East Asia’s Relations with a Rising China, edited by Lam Peng Er, N. Ganesan and Colin Durkop, (Seoul: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, 2010).

“Dealing with Burma’s Gordian Knot: Thailand, ASEAN, China and the Burmese Conundrum”, Myanmar: Prospect for Change, edited by Li Chenyang and Wilhelm Hofmeister (Singapore: Select Books Publishing, 2010).

“A Fading Wave, Sinking Tide: A Southeast Asian Perspective on the Korean Wave”, in Korea’s Changing Roles in Southeast Asia: Expanding Influence and Relations, edited by David I. Steinberg, (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010).

“Confusing Democracies: Diagnosing Thailand’s Democratic Crisis 2001-2008”, in Political Change, Democratic Transitions and Security in Southeast Asia, edited by Mely Caballero-Anthony (London: Routledge 2009).

“Thailand”, in Southeast Asia in a New Era: Ten Countries, One Region in ASEAN, edited by Rodolfo C. Severino, Elspeth Thomson and Mark Hong (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009).

“Neither Constructive nor Engaging: The Debacle of ASEAN’s Burmese Policy”, in Between Isolation and Internationalisation: The State of Burma, edited by Johan Lagerkvist, (The Swedish Institute of International Affairs Paper No.4, 2008), pp. 201-222.

Journal Articles:

Embedding Embittered History: Unending Conflicts in Thai-Cambodian Relations”, Asian Affairs, Vol. XLIII, No. 1 (March 2012), pp. 81-102.

“The Necessity of Enemies in Thailand’s Troubled Politics”, Asian Survey, Vol. 51, No. 6 (November/December, 2011), pp. 1019-1041.

“Look East Meets Look West: Indian-Southeast Asian Relations in Flux”, The International Spectator, Vol. 46, No. 2 (June 2011), pp. 91-108.

“Competing Diplomacies: Sino-American Rivalry in Thailand”, in Southeast Asian Affairs 2011 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011).

“Unity as a Discourse in Thailand’s Polarised Politics”, in Southeast Asian Affairs 2010 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2010).

“Diplomacy Under Siege: Thailand’s Political Crisis and the Impact on Foreign Policy”, in Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs, Vol. 31, No. 3 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, December 2009), pp. 447-467.

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