There is a fascinating post on Language Log on bahasa, the word used to refer to languages in Indonesian, Malay, and various other Southeast Asian languages (many of them which are not Austronesian languages). I am proud to recall that…
The Southeast Asia Research GroupDiscipline, Method, Area More exciting news for Southeast Asia in political science. I am pleased to introduce the Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG), a new joint venture with Allen Hicken, Eddy Malesky, and Dan Slater that…
Political scientists who work on Southeast Asia have historically felt marginalized from the mainstream of political science. Indeed, some the most well-known scholars of Southeast Asian politics (in particular, Benedict Anderson and James Scott) are also known as critics of…
On Language Log, an interesting discussion about what the term “Sinosphere” means. Southeast Asia figures prominently here, of course, but not in a way which conveys any confidence that the contributors know anything at all about the region. For example,…
A new working paper entitled “Trade Competition and American Decolonization” (PDF), prepared for the 2012 IPES meeting and the subject of several previous posts, is now available. I’m happy to be presenting a primarily qualitative paper at a conference that…
As I polish up a first serious draft of a paper on decolonization, today I came across a discussion of “annexation.” I invite readers to peruse the following and imagine which tropical territory is being discussed. Many…who felt…that annexation was…
Today’s revealing quote, from the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce in NYC in 1930. There is no great aggregation of American capital in the Philippines like there is in Porto Rico, Hawaii, and in Cuba. To attack the sugars coming from those quarters…
Following up on the recent post on Chinese Indonesians, I had a fascinating conversation with several colleagues from Kyoto University about Chinese Indonesians who have “returned” to China. Our focus was not on recent flows of comparatively wealthy Chinese, but…
Internet debates on economic policy, economic thought, and current events are frustrating. Today’s exhibition: Tyler Cowen on Keynesians on China. Cowen, of Marginal Revolution fame, recently published a timely essay at the New York Times on how different schools of…
Let’s say that you’re a pessimist about global growth prospects. If so, you’re not alone: Q2 GDP growth in the U.S. is weak, the U.K. is in a double-dip recession, and there’s no end to the Eurozone crisis in sight….
