Abstract
It has been taken for granted that the global spread of capitalism and the Western development model will lead to a transformation of all nation-states into liberal democracies. The transformation presumably implies the emergence of an economically active, educated and wealthy middle class. On the surface, this seems to have happened all around the globe. However, we are also witnessing the persistence of socialist state structures, as in Vietnam and Laos, and opposition to democracy, especially in the upper middle classes, as in Thailand. The hypothesis of a simple Westernization of the world has neglected the relevance of local histories, regional cultures and national class structures in the formation of capitalism and democracy. We do not see the transformation of all political systems according to the Western model, but a negotiation between Western and local values within the framework of twenty-first-century globalization.
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Acknowledgments
This volume is based on a conference that took place at Chulalongkorn University in October 2014, on The 21st Globalization: Alternative Futures and Democracy hosted by the Social Research Institute and the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies with the support from Chula Global Network Program. The inspiring discussions gave rise to a plan to publish the papers delivered at the conference. As the political configuration has changed in some Southeast Asian countries since the conference, the chapters in this volume developed beyond the shape they had at the conference as well. The editors would like to thank the contributors for their continued engagement with the topic. They also extend their thanks to James Barber, who copy edited most of the chapters of this book, to Jeff Wong, who looked into the language of several chapters, and to Surangrut Jumnianpol for the manuscript typesetting.
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Rehbein, B., Banpasirichote Wungaeo, C. (2016). Introduction. In: Banpasirichote Wungaeo, C., Rehbein, B., Wun'gaeo, S. (eds) Globalization and Democracy in Southeast Asia. Frontiers of Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57654-5_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57654-5_1
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