This edited volume examines the use of militarised responses to different forms of criminal activity, discussing the outcomes and unintended consequences. Politicians and policymakers frequently use militarised responses to look tough on crime. The deployment of armies, navies, military assets and militarised approaches can send a powerful message, but have produced mixed results. While they generate the perception that governments are actively engaged on issues of concern to the public, and in some cases have resulted in notable successes, on the downside they have frequently also increased the loss of life, exacerbated the humanitarian consequences of a particular crime and entrenched divides between security and state institutions and the criminal proponents, narrowing the possibilities for future negotiated solutions. By focusing on four different areas of criminality – wildlife crime, piracy, migration and drug trafficking – the book allows context and evidence-based conclusions to be drawn on the strategic value and commonality of responses and their outcomes.

This book analyzes the overall effect of American primacy on social and political conflicts in Asia, discussing how the post-Cold War American agenda does not promote democratization in the region, in contradiction to one of the major proclaimed aims of the proponents of the Pax Americana. This team of renowned scholars argue that the US agenda can strengthen anti-democratic impulses in Asian societies, exacerbating and complicating existing domestic conflicts and struggles. Empire and Neoliberalism in Asia also examines how the requirements of the War on Terror intersect with, and reinforce, those of transnationalized sections of American capital. Drawing on country case studies, this multidisciplinary book looks at the ramifications of the American Empire for the Asian region and will appeal to anyone interested in Asian politics, international relations, political economy, development studies and sociology.

Following a 1932 coup d’état in Thailand that ended absolute monarchy and established a constitution, the Thai state that emerged has suppressed political dissent through detention, torture, forced reeducation, disappearances, assassinations, and massacres. In Plain Sight shows how these abuses, both hidden and occurring in public view, have become institutionalized through a chronic failure to hold perpetrators accountable. Tyrell Haberkorn’s deeply researched revisionist history of modern Thailand highlights the legal, political, and social mechanisms that have produced such impunity and documents continual and courageous challenges to state domination.

DIVSince the end of the Cold War, the assumption among most political theorists has been that as nations develop economically, they will also become more democratic—especially if a vibrant middle class takes root. This assumption underlies the expansion of the European Union and much of American foreign policy, bolstered by such examples as South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and even to some extent Russia. Where democratization has failed or retreated, aberrant conditions take the blame: Islamism, authoritarian Chinese influence, or perhaps the rise of local autocrats./divDIV /divDIVBut what if the failures of democracy are not exceptions? In this thought-provoking study of democratization, Joshua Kurlantzick proposes that the spate of retreating democracies, one after another over the past two decades, is not just a series of exceptions. Instead, it reflects a new and disturbing trend: democracy in worldwide decline. The author investigates the state of democracy in a variety of countries, why the middle class has turned against democracy in some cases, and whether the decline in global democratization is reversible./div

Despite being an act that is widely practiced under the guise of a significant number of States, little is known about the intrinsic realities of enforced disappearances. General literature on the topic is lacking, and laws that address the problem are scarce. Enforced disappearances have only come to the attention of the international community fairly recently. At the dawn of this century, Thailand understandably remains one of the most active countries in the practice of enforcedly disappearing people as a means of removing them from the protection of the law because of no legally justifiable reason for arrest or detention - an ultimate breach of the Rule of Law. This book aims to attribute responsibility to the Kingdom of Thailand for failing to introduce legal mechanisms and safeguards to protect its citizens - in breach of its State duties - from enforced disappearances. In an attempt to remove pre-existing ambiguities on what basic human rights are being violated and by whom, the author comparatively analyses international human rights jurisprudence vis-a-vis certain Latin American and European countries. The jurisprudence reiterates that the human rights implications of enforced disappearances do not only depend on the State refraining from committing such acts directly, but also from its indirect acquiescence and tolerance of the act being committed by non-State agents. The repeated reports of enforced disappearances throughout its history make Thailand hypothetically accountable (since nothing can supersede State sovereignty). Still, the author hopes that this book will provide the guidance needed to help improve the human rights compliance in Thailand and, in due course, rid the country of this terrible practice. To this end, this book also contains first-hand contribution from experts and advocates to human rights in Thailand.