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Despite Timor-Leste¿s high expectations when it became independent from Indonesia in 2002, the country is ranked among the least developed countries in the world. This book draws together the perspectives of practitioners, policy-makers and academics on the international efforts to rebuild the world¿s newest nation.

By examining the sometimes surprising and unexpected roles that culture and religion have played in mitigating or exacerbating conflicts, this book explores the cultural repertoires from which Southeast Asian political actors have drawn to negotiate the pluralism that has so long been characteristic of the region.

Examining the widespread phenomenon of human trafficking in Vietnam during the period of French colonial rule, this book focuses on the practice of kidnapping or stealing Vietnamese women and children for sale in Chinese markets from the 1870s through to the 1940s.

This book addresses the complexity of Islam in Thailand, by focusing on Islamic charities and institutions affiliated to the mosque. By extrapolating through Islam and the waqf (Islamic charity) in different regions of Thailand the diversity in races and institutions, it demonstrates the regional contrast within Thai Islam. The book also underlines the importance of internal histories of these separate spaces, and the processes by which institutions and ideologies become entrenched. It goes on to look at the socio economic transformation that is taking place within the context of trading networks through Islamic institutions and civil networks linked to mosques, madrasas and regional power brokers.

Based on original fieldwork, this book presents a number of case studies of animism from insular and peninsular Southeast Asia and offers a comprehensive overview of the phenomenon - its diversity and underlying commonalities and its resilience in the face of powerful forces of change. Shedding new light on Southeast Asian religious ethnographic research, the book is a significant contribution to anthropological theory and the revitalization of the concept of animism in the humanities and social sciences.

Brunei, although a relatively small state, is disproportionately important on account of its rich resource base. In addition, in recent years the country has endeavoured to play a greater role in regional affairs, especially through ASEAN, holding the chair of the organisation in 2013, and also beyond the region, fostering diplomatic, political, economic and educational ties with many nations. This book presents much new research and new thinking on a wide range of issues concerning Brunei largely drawn from Bruneian academics. Subjects covered include BruneiΓÇÖs rich history ΓÇô the sultanate formerly had much more extensive territories and was a key player in regional affairs; the countryΓÇÖs economy, politics, society and ethnicities; and resource issues and international relations.

The book explores the nature of the Islamic education systems in Indonesia and Malaysia and the different approaches taken by these states in managing these systems.

This book depicts the evolution of Singapore¿s family and population landscape in the last half a century, the related public policies, and future challenges.

Most studies on urbanisation focus on the move of rural people to cities and the impact this has, both on the cities to which the people have moved, and on the rural communities they have left. This book, on the other hand, considers the impact on rural communities of the physical expansion of cities. Based on extensive original research in a rural commune which over the course of the last two decades has become engulfed by Hanoi¿s urban spread, the book explores what happens when village people become urbanites or city dwellers. This book charts these developments over time, and sets urbanisation in Vietnam in the wider context of urbanisation in Southeast Asia and Asia more generally.

Providing an ethnographic account of the Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS) and its Youth Wing (Dewan Pemuda PAS), this book analyses the genesis and role of Islamic movements in terms of their engagement in mainstream politics. It explores the party¿s changing approach towards popular culture and critically investigates whether the narrative of a post-Islamist turn can be applied to the PAS Youth.

This volume re-examines the mass violence which swept across Indonesia in 1965 in light of attempts to seek justice for the crimes committed before the International People¿s Tribunal for 1965.

This book maps out the state of China Studies in seven Southeast Asian countries from different perspectives.

This book analyses European foreign policy as the activity of the European Union (EU) as a Global Actor and explores its efforts to raise its visibility in Southeast Asia through its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Myanmar.

Examines Muslims in Singapore, analysing their habits, practices and dispositions towards everyday life, and also their role within the broader framework of the secularist Singapore state and the cultural dominance of its Chinese elite, who are predominantly Buddhist and Christian.

Incorporating elements of history, sociology, international relations, economics, geography, public health, biotechnology, and engineering, the contributors to this book pioneer a new interdisciplinary study of the Mekong Commons.

The contributors to this book challenge this conventional understanding of irregular forces in Southeast Asia, demonstrating that they often attract solid support from civilians and can be major contributors to the building of community security.

NGOs and Civil Society in Thailand critically examines the relationships of civil society to nongovernmental organisations in Thailand, and examines the 'NGOisation' of civil society, how NGOs are funded and governed, and in what way the NGOs has been shaped to work with the funder.NGOisation is a phenomenon by which the funded organisations are impelled to transform suit their funder as reliable partners. Focusing on Thailand, an Asian country where NGOs have been heavily relied on the public sector for funding, the book analyses the relations between NGOs and their significant funder, Thailand Health Promotion Foundation (THPF), one of the biggest and most influential players in the NGO sector. As the NGO funded organisations are impelled to transform and adapt to become more professionalised, institutionalised, bureaucratised, and depoliticised to suit their funder as reliable partners, their characteristics and relations with the state are complex and interactive. Engaging with key stakeholders in the field of NGO and public governance in Thailand, the book demonstrates how THPF changed the NGO landscape, integrating them and innovatively coordinating non-state initiatives into public governance system.A novel contribution to the study of NGOs and the state, the book also addresses NGO transformation, politics, and governance. It will be of interest to academics working on Asian Politics, civil society, public policy and public management.¿

This book studies the impact of public expenditure allocations in achieving income equality goals in Malaysia.The book examines the initial functional and institutional distribution of income across different institutional agents and sectors and evaluates the impact of the public expenditure policies in reducing the inter-ethnic and rural-urban disparity. Since Malaysia has made enormous progress in eliminating poverty, the authors suggest that a change of emphasis in the public expenditure policy may now be called for. They present evidence on the importance of public expenditure in improving income inequality and examine the initial functional and institutional distribution of income across different institutional agents and sectors. The development of the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) model that presents both economic and social statistics in an economy can be served as a useful tool of this work. The SAM model is used to evaluate the impact of the public expenditure policies in reducing inter-ethnic and rural-urban disparity.A comprehensive source of information on how to deal with inequality economic challenges, the book will be of interest to economists and researchers on Southeast Asian Studies.

This book examines the recycling infrastructure in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, considering the circular flows of waste and practices through 'infracycles', maintenance practices that tinker with the social and capitalist order. It will be of interest to environmental anthropology, science & tech, urban studies, & SEA studies.