Social Activism in Southeast Asia

Social Activism in Southeast Asia brings together cutting-edge accounts of social movements concerned with civil and political rights, globalization, peace, the environment, migrant and factory labour, the rights of middle- and working-class women, and sexual identity in an overarching framework of analysis that forefronts the importance of human rights and the state as a focus for social activism in a region characterized by a history of authoritarian developmentalism and weak civil society. Drawing on contemporary case study material from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Timor-Leste, contributors explore the ways in which social movement actors engage with their international allies, the community and the state in order to promote social change. In doing so, they not only provide detailed and nuanced analyses of particular movements in particular parts of Southeast Asia; they also address difficult questions concerning the nature of social movements and their politics, strategies and claims to authenticity.