Transitions to Energy and Climate Security in Southeast Asia? Civil Society Encounters with Illiberalism in Thailand and Myanmar

Simpson, Adam; Smits, M.C.J.

doi:10.1080/08941920.2017.1413720

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…A few studies have examined the consequences of the AE model in other Asian states, demonstrating, for instance, Singapore's transition to a "garden city" being accompanied by a distinctly utilitarian discourse on nature (Han, 2017), South Korea's authoritarian path dependency effecting executive dominance and a limited space for societal participation (Han, 2015), and Thailand's and Myanmar's military governments offering fluctuating conditions for environmental nongovernmental organizations (Simpson & Smits, 2018). To date, no studies have applied the AE framework to Vietnam, and the present article seeks to begin filling the gap.…”

Section: Authoritarian Environmentalism: Defining Features and Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Protection in the Hands of the State: Authoritarian Environmentalism and Popular Perceptions in Vietnam

Bruun

2020

The Journal of Environment & Development

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Vietnam’s uncompromising economic growth priorities under Communist Party leadership have left environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity in its wake, and the country is in many respects at a critical threshold. Even so, recent debate has emphasized that state or “authoritarian” environmentalism may have political advantages in determined and coordinated environmental response, although the downside may be a denial of personal responsibility and low public awareness. Building on a series of field studies in rural and highland Vietnam, this article puts everyday environmental perceptions and practices into the perspective of long-term authoritarian governance. It explores the resulting hierarchization of state–society relations and fragmentation of social forces, in which environmental action, responsibility, and ethics primarily emanate from the state sphere. It argues that authoritarianism has contributed to a critical disjuncture between shared norms and the objective conditions of the biophysical environment, as comprehensive state dominance hampers autonomous value change in society.

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Section: Authoritarian Environmentalism: Defining Features and Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Protection in the Hands of the State: Authoritarian Environmentalism and Popular Perceptions in Vietnam

Bruun

2020

The Journal of Environment & Development

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“…After a decade of campaigns, Thai government had halted the project, as a result of oppositions raised by local residents and environmentalists (International Rivers 2020). Although the roles that NGOs played in advocacy have been tangible (Simpson and Smits 2018), such articulation has significantly impacted on Chinese government's implementation of its water exploitation activities. 7 The Chinese government 'had become more alerted of the influence of environmentalists in these countries (when promoting its infrastructure project).…”

Section: Case I: China Promotes Extensive River Exploitation On the M...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The politics of securitization: China’s competing security agendas and their impacts on securitizing shared rivers

Xie

Warner

2021

Eurasian Geography and Economics

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Managing transboundary river basins proves a challenge for China when encountering disagreements with its neighbors that experience different political and social conditions. This paper analyzes what happens when China characterizes water as a security issue, examining China's fluid securitization practices, where changes can be identified indicating that the Chinese government values the various water security concerns differently. Two cases are adopted for comparison. In the case of China sharing the Mekong River, the Chinese government has shown a willingness to incorporate more issues found both inside and outside of the water sector. In contrast, in the case of the sharing of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna, China's security agenda has been limited to the consideration of water availability and has led to military security concerns. The findings indicate that China's water security agenda is not only driven by a concern for water management over specific rivers, but also judgments that incorporate strategic military consideration with regard to countries that they are involved with. The case of China thus suggests that water security is a complex domain that demonstrates competing values and concerns in (de)politicizing water. Therefore, water-related security issues cannot be understood solely from an environmental policy perspective.

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“…The concept of POS resonates well with recent studies that emphasize the role of the state and the political regime in green energy transition (Lederer, Wallbott, & Steffen, ; Urban et al, ). Scholars accentuate that channels for political contestation with respect to energy decisions are more open in democratic systems, whereas restrictive political regimes tend to initiate repressive responses (Simpson & Smits, ).…”

Section: Social Mobilization Against Dams—an Analytical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social mobilization against large hydroelectric dams: A comparison of Ethiopia, Brazil, and Panama

Schapper

Unrau

Killoh

2019

Sustainable Development

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Large‐scale hydroelectric dams have—throughout their history—had adverse impacts on local population groups, natural resources, and entire eco‐systems furthering resistance and protest against them. In this paper, we aim to investigate the impact of social mobilization against large‐scale dams by considering political opportunity structures, actor constellations, and frames. We comparatively analyze three case studies in varying political systems, that is, Gibe III in Ethiopia, Belo Monte in Brazil, and Barro Blanco in Panama. Our investigation is based on field research in these countries comprising data collection of governmental reports, newspaper articles, materials published by civil society organizations, and semi‐structured interviews. The analysis reveals that the impact of mobilization against dams is certainly limited in contexts with authoritarian governments. In democratic contexts, the impact depends on the degree of external involvement, as well as the ability of movements to avoid fracture, especially in view of temporal dimensions of large infrastructure projects.

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Transitions to Energy and Climate Security in Southeast Asia? Civil Society Encounters with Illiberalism in Thailand and Myanmar

Cited by 22 publications

References 47 publications

Environmental Protection in the Hands of the State: Authoritarian Environmentalism and Popular Perceptions in Vietnam

Environmental Protection in the Hands of the State: Authoritarian Environmentalism and Popular Perceptions in Vietnam

The politics of securitization: China’s competing security agendas and their impacts on securitizing shared rivers

Social mobilization against large hydroelectric dams: A comparison of Ethiopia, Brazil, and Panama

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