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E-book A Genealogy of Bamboo Diplomacy : The Politics of Thai Détente with Russia and China

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Penilaian

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‘Bamboo’ or ‘bending with the wind’ diplomacy is a key concept frequently used in international relations (IR) and describes Thailand’s diplomacy in particular. It alludes to the way in which the country has pursued a flexible, pragmatic policy, aimed at maintaining national survival and independence. In bamboo diplomacy, Thailand is blatantly playing one great power off against the others amid great power competition. The extant literature almost always treats this concept as universal, highlighting its historical continuity and heuristic tool of justification for appropriate foreign policy. For example, Pavin Chachavalpongpun sees bamboo diplomacy as a ‘traditional’ or ‘classic’ Thai diplomacy, which continued ‘since Siam’s old days up to Thailand’s modern era’.1 For Arne Kislenko, Thailand’s diplomacy was ‘a long-cherished, philosophical approach to international relations’, which is ‘always solidly rooted’ but ‘flexible enough to bend whichever way it had to in order to survive’.2 These works largely neglect to ask the key question: when and how this strategic discourse came about. This is a puzzle of discontinuity or rupture, rather than continuity. The book is first and foremost a genealogy of bamboo diplomacy. Its purposes are twofold. One is to critically interrogate how the birth of ‘bamboo’ or ‘flexible’ diplomacy emerged and became the dominant or hegemonic discourse in Thai foreign policy. It should be noted here that Thailand in the pre-1968 period had sought to adjust relations with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the example of which was Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun)’s attempt to work with Beijing between 1955 and 1957. However, these diplomatic practices were generally short-lived and merely tactical in the sense that they were used as a diplomatic tool in order to bargain with the US. Importantly, these diplomatic practices were not understood at that time as flexible or bamboo diplomacy. In particular, Phibun’s ‘brief encounter’ with China was seen as part of a broader narrative of non-alignment.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

929.1 POO a

Penerbit

Australia : ANU Press., 2022

Deskripsi Fisik

336 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781760464998

Klasifikasi

929.1

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Genealogy

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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