The Brown University Alumni Association of Hong Kong and the Brown Club of Philippines hosted Professor Mark R. Thompson, Chair Professor, Department of Public and International Affairs and Director, Southeast Asia Research Center, City University of Hong Kong in an online seminar held on Zoom.
The online seminar commenced at 5pm Japan time.
Registration was free.
Description
In four key Southeast Asian countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand - deep political divisions have been patched up through marriages of convenience with former rivals joining together in governing coalitions. Yet a messy political divorce is already unfolding in the Philippines, with tensions apparent in the other countries as well as competition over resources intensifies.
Unlikely governing partners attempt to reassure core constituencies of their continued commitment to apparently compromised causes while those excluded by these messy arrangements seek to undermine their legitimacy. While these coalitions have often temporarily reduced political polarization, this may well be at the cost of growing cynicism about the instrumentalist nature of politics in the region.
Biography
Professor Thompson is chair professor of politics, Department of Public and International Affairs and director, Southeast Asia Research Centre (SEARC) at the City University of Hong Kong (CityU). He is past president of the Hong Kong Political Science Association and the Asian Political and International Studies Association. He was Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow for Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore (2008) and Stanford University (2009). He will be a CSEAS (Center for Southeast Asian Studies) Fellow at Kyoto University in 2024.
He previously held permanent positions as lecturer and senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow and as full professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He was also a lecturer at the Dresden University of Technology and the Federal Army University, Munich. He has held a number of visiting positions, including at Keio University (Tokyo), Passau University, the University for Peace (Costa Rica), De la Salle University (Manila), and Thammasat University (Bangkok). He completed his PhD in political science at Yale University where he was mentored by Juan J. Linz and James C. Scott.
He has received a number of major external grants, including several funded by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong General Research Fund. The author or editor of 11 books and over 200 articles - many in top journals- and book chapters, his research focuses on opposition, authoritarian developmentlism, presidentialism and dynastic national leadership in East Asia (Northeast and Southeast Asia).
His research has been cited over 3,750 times (according to Google Scholar) and has been featured in the popular media (e.g. Time Magazine, The Washington Post, CNBC, and Wired Magazine). He lends his expertise to government, public foundations, and non-government organizations in the areas of East Asian politics and development.