Peer-Reviewed Papers by T F Rhoden
Journal of International Migration and Integration, Jun 18, 2018
Processes of mixed migration beyond the reified "refugee-migrant binary" of migration studies are... more Processes of mixed migration beyond the reified "refugee-migrant binary" of migration studies are an empirical reality along the Myanmar-Thailand border. Utilizing a survey of 3,874 mobile individuals from Myanmar in Thailand as a case study, this paper examines the impact of past experiences of migrants on the likelihood that any one of them will reside inside a refugee camp instead of outside of one in Thailand. A dataset is constructed that specifically intersects "refugee" communities with "labor migrant" communities in order to measure the importance of factors of socioeconomic, self-identity, past persecution, and social network considerations. Though indicators like religion, ethnicity, and the fear to return are salient in the likelihood of living inside a camp, family location is the strongest single predictor variable for whether or not an individual from Myanmar will inhabit a refugee camp. Future research may benefit by researching across migrant communities normally considered disparate.
Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 2017
Myanmar provides a unique opportunity to study a polity that only recently has begun the processe... more Myanmar provides a unique opportunity to study a polity that only recently has begun the processes of political liberalization and democratization. A necessary, though not sufficient, element of this transition was the 2015 general elections, which resulted in a handover of governmental power from the military-turned-civilian-led United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to the main prodemocracy opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The factors that influenced the behavior of the Burmese voter have yet to be examined at the individual level. This study explores the relationship between various variables and political party choice by analyzing a newly created dataset of Burmese party preference in Thailand. Utilizing a multinomial logistic regression of survey data (n of 3,671), traditional variables of demographic differentials and value of democracy-as well as newly theorized factors of diaspora conditions and past persecution-are tested against party preference. Specifically, the indicators of ethnicity, democratic values, years spent abroad, and governmental threat of persecution prove to be salient in the likelihood that a Burmese voter would choose either the NLD or any “ethnic” party over the USDP. New avenues of research are recommended based on the findings for Burmese party preference, including important considerations for the study of newly democratizing regimes in Southeast Asia and beyond.
Journal of Burma Studies, 2016
In the political sphere, the citizens of Myanmar have witnessed and taken part in an expanding an... more In the political sphere, the citizens of Myanmar have witnessed and taken part in an expanding and deepening process of democratization and political liberalization in the past few years. In the economic sphere, changes are also underway that indicate a growth of economic liberalism. One part of that process is a slowly increasing financialization as indicated by the new Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) set to begin trading operations in late 2015. This paper will analyze what this new stock exchange means for the citizens of Myanmar by placing it within a regional comparative analysis of stock markets across Southeast Asia, including the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX), the Lao Securities Exchange (LSX), and the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX). The main argument is that despite calculable risks in terms of business transparency and national politics, the potentialities for a successful YSX are in place. The main socioeconomic conditions that warrant investment, both from the domestic as well as international perspective are 1) the depth and diversity of Myanmar’s adult population size, 2) Myanmar’s rallying industrial sector, 3) Burmese businesses’ current lack of bank financing, and 4) Burmese citizens’ little-to-no holdings in financial assets as compared to other non-financial wealth holdings. The YSX will not be an overnight success for either domestic Burmese investors or for domestic Burmese enterprises seeking new avenues to finance growth and project investment. However, the systemic socioeconomic conditions are in place for the Yangon Stock Exchange to parallel more closely the experience of the Vietnamese HoSE and HNX than that of the other Indochinese exchanges of LSX and CSX.
International Journal of East Asian Studies, 2015
As Myanmar’s national politics change from a military authoritarian regime toward civilian rule, ... more As Myanmar’s national politics change from a military authoritarian regime toward civilian rule, this paper seeks to understand whether Burmese emigrants abroad are starting to return home. By placing the specific case study of net migration flows across the Myanmar-Thailand land border into a larger study of all of net migration flows across all other land borders around the globe, a comparison can be made as to the direction and the amount of these net migration flows. We argue that, regardless of the political situation, when surveying the top large-scale net migration flows of over 350,000 people, fairly simple economic indicators help us to predict that, ceteris paribus, the direction of any net migration flow will move from poorer to wealthier country. Material differences in wealth, however, do not help to predict the amount of that net migration flow. We conclude that because of prevailing magnitudes of material difference between Myanmar and Thailand, we see nothing that suggests that Burmese migrants have started to return home in any large numbers.
Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 2015
A modern conception of oligarchy, which can be housed under an authoritarian regime as easily as ... more A modern conception of oligarchy, which can be housed under an authoritarian regime as easily as it can under a liberal democratic one, can affect our understanding of the potential national political repercussions of extreme inequalities of wealth. This article has two goals: (1) to conceptually analyse the meaning of oligarchy; and (2) to make a descriptive case for its use in the Thai context. The test case of contemporary Thailand shows what exactly an oligarch or oligarchy means under a military regime and the potential effects for national politics of an oligarchy based on material wealth. Utilizing Jeffrey A. Winters’ Aristotelian-grounded conception of oligarchy for the contemporary world, this article argues that some political outcomes in Thailand are inexplicable without recourse to a modern variant of oligarchic theory and analysis.
Democratization, 2015
This article argues that much of the work on democratization and democratic consolidation is obsc... more This article argues that much of the work on democratization and democratic consolidation is obscured by a conceptual fog, when at the very least some of this confusion could be ameliorated by parsing out components that are obviously liberal in nature. An admission of the importance of liberalization and liberal consolidation as distinctly different in form and measurement from democratization and democratic consolidation are the first steps to better research on the varieties of causation that constitute and propel the dissolution of more authoritarian regimes towards more liberal democratic regimes. Acknowledging that the liberal in liberal democracy is unpopular for some, and that liberal democracy does not necessarily mean American liberal democracy, go a long way to freeing these terms from ethnocentric misconceptions, as well as cementing analytical clarification. Though all modern democracies have both liberal and democratic components, democratic consolidation does not guarantee liberal consolidation.
Books by T F Rhoden
The history of the city of Yangon travels on two tracks. One is religious. The other is economic.... more The history of the city of Yangon travels on two tracks. One is religious. The other is economic. Even when Yangon may have seemed to be a city of politics after the Third Anglo-Burmese War (1886) and again after independence (1948) up until the capital officially moved to Naypyidaw (2005), religious or economic factors were never far from the surface. One could argue that without either the religious or the economic element, Yangon never could have become a teeming metropolis and the largest city of Myanmar. Another way to say this is that, though neither religion nor the economy comprised Yangon’s character alone, they were both absolutely necessary to provide it with the importance and personality that Yangon carries today.
The misrule of the Burmese military junta continues to be the main catalyst of refugees in Southe... more The misrule of the Burmese military junta continues to be the main catalyst of refugees in Southeast Asia today. In this collection of letters, learn about the true stories of people who have fled from that regime. All of the accounts are written by the refugees themselves and explain how they became asylum seekers, what life is like in the camps, and what they envision for their future. These stories document persons from the 8888 generation, the 2007 Saffron Revolution, and various ethnic struggles. This book contains the narratives of thirty diverse individuals--all of them united by the simple desire to have a more representative government in their homeland.
Conference Presentations by T F Rhoden
Purpose of survey: Original dataset of quantitative analysis section of dissertation research for... more Purpose of survey: Original dataset of quantitative analysis section of dissertation research for PhD in political science from Northern Illinois University. Estimated graduation date for fall 2016. Others are encouraged to use this dataset for their own research (see license below).
Title: Dataset of Burmese Migration-Concept Crossover in Thailand
Researcher/Author: T. F. Rhoden
Published: 25-Nov-15
Survey period: 20-Jun-15 to 19-Oct-15
Survey location: Thai side of Thailand-Myanmar border (see dataset for specific locations).
Total surveys given out: 4,000
Total surveys answered: 3,784
Response rate: 96.85% (note that response rate will vary per individual question/data point; see dataset).
Original population: 2,629,242 (estimated number of total migrants from Myanmar in Thailand from pg. 9 of Rhoden, T. F., and Danny Unger. 2015. “No Burmese Returning: Economics across Myanmar-Thailand Border.” International Journal of East Asian Studies 19(2): 51-70. http://tinyurl.com/ow4cll7.)
Data points/observations: 50 per respondent (see codesheet).
Survey demographics: See dataset.
Languages: Survey was printed in Burmese and English. Any responses in Burmese were translated into English for ease of use here. See dataset for challenges/issues of some translations. Note that some respondents answered in Karen, which were also translated into English here.
Contact info: tfrhoden@niu.edu
License: This dataset is under creative commons license. It is free to use in any way, including, but not limited to, academic research, governmental- and nongovernmental-organization research, journalism, and/or others. Commercial use is prohibited.
Acknowledgements: Part of this survey timeframe overlaps with financial assistance from a Boren Fellowship to learn the Sgaw dialect of the Karen language(s) in Northern Thailand. For volunteer assistance in data collection outside of the refugee camps, author would like to thank Khin Soe Mon, education program manager at Help Without Frontiers (HWF) Thailand, Naing Naing Htun and the team at Burma Migrant Teachers Association (BMTA), along with a handfull of other local Burmese- and Karen-speaking volunteers who wish to stay anonymous. For assistance in data collection inside of the refugee camps, author would like to thank Maria Clara Naranjo, instructor with Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity (KRCEE), and other research assistants who wish to keep their identity anonymous. Author would also like to thank Kyaw (David) Pyae Sone of HWF for helping with translating the Internal Review Board (IRB) forms into Burmese and Ma (Zulu) Khin with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB) with help in translating the questions on the survey from English to Burmese. Any mistakes are the author’s own.
Papers by T F Rhoden
L'opinion actuelle qui consiste à voir dans les Birmans émigrant en Thaïlande, soit des manoeuvre... more L'opinion actuelle qui consiste à voir dans les Birmans émigrant en Thaïlande, soit des manoeuvres, soit des réfugiés, vole en éclat dans une perspective historique, selon l'analyse de TF Rhoden.
Quand on étudie les causes qui interviennent et finalement constituent la mobilité humaine en restant sourd – mais honnête – à ces deux millénaires de déplacements de victimes vers et hors du bassin du Chao Phraya, l’empirisme affirme que politique d’urgence et nécessités économiques sont inextricablement liées. Le danger est qu’en continuant à considérer chaque cas de migration comme un élément fondamentalement nouveau qui doit être étudié afin de donner un peu de respect de soi ou d’autonomie ou de fausse solidarité aux prochaines victimes concernées, nous ne faisons que nous rendre aveugles aux faits pertinents pour mieux dormir une nuit de plus.
Quelle que soit la solution, s’il elle existe, elle doit considérer en même temps les deux aspects de la question et comprendre que la mobilité est simplement une caractéristique universelle de notre espèce – quelque chose que la pathologie liée à dix millions d’années de civilisation agraire sédentarisée nous a fait oublier.
Des histoires de migrations couvrant des milliers d’années étudiées par des spécialistes en sciences politiques prenant en compte la démographie peuvent constituer une exception, alors les lecteurs sont invités à consulter le document et proposer une critique constructive tant que ce débat est dans sa première ébauche.
Book Reviews by T F Rhoden
Mekong Review, 2017
Despite appearances, something is missing at the heart of Thai democracy.
Southeast Asian Studies, Aug 2016
Does Thailand have an Oligarchy? If so, how do we define it for the national case of Thailand? An... more Does Thailand have an Oligarchy? If so, how do we define it for the national case of Thailand? And most importantly for this collection of essays, what is the empirical proof of this oligarchy in contemporary Thailand? These are some of the main questions which pervade Unequal Thailand: Aspects of Income, Wealth and Power, edited by Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker. Translated and reworked from a Thai-language edition, Su sangkom Thai samoe na (Toward a more equitable Thailand) published in 2014 by Matichon, this volume is a timely and useful review of some of the political economy issues facing Thailand today. With nine chapters by Thai scholars and technocrats, the aim of the book is to provide contemporary data and analysis on those material foundations which have fostered a growth in inequality and a strengthening in oligarchy in recent years. Some chapters do this better than others, but all provide insight into these issues. In terms of raw empirical analysis all of the research essays are a success, particularly the second chapter on land distribution as an indicator of both inequality and oligarchy. For those interested in the possible material foundations of recent turmoil in Thai political society, this volume is an absolute gem and is more than worth adding to one’s library.
Thesis Chapters by T F Rhoden
By marshaling new empirical evidence and theory from the Thailand-Myanmar border, this dissertati... more By marshaling new empirical evidence and theory from the Thailand-Myanmar border, this dissertation challenges the current refugee-migrant binary discourse that pervades much of the research on human migration across various disciplines. Two millennia of human mobility into, out of, and across the Chao Phraya basin of Thailand are synthesized inductively to argue for a new classification of migration that values causal physicality and identity creation over past typologies that reify some notion of the " labor migrant " or the " refugee. " This historical review is compared to contemporary movements of Burmese-and Karenic-speakers into Thailand, utilizing in-depth interviews with migrants and officials in Thailand (n = 24). Hypotheses are posited about the relationship between predictor variables of past persecution and other demographic differentials against various social, political, economic, and geographic aspects of contemporary migrants. These are tested deductively against a dataset constructed from a larger survey questionnaire of migrants both inside the " refugee " camps and outside the camps on the Thai side of the border (n = 4,000). The study of only " refugees " or only " labor migrants " is a common form of confirmation bias in migration studies today. Acknowledgement of mixed migration as an empirical reality along the Thailand-Myanmar border assists in no small way to combat the confirmation bias inherent in the refugee-migrant binary.
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Peer-Reviewed Papers by T F Rhoden
Books by T F Rhoden
Conference Presentations by T F Rhoden
Title: Dataset of Burmese Migration-Concept Crossover in Thailand
Researcher/Author: T. F. Rhoden
Published: 25-Nov-15
Survey period: 20-Jun-15 to 19-Oct-15
Survey location: Thai side of Thailand-Myanmar border (see dataset for specific locations).
Total surveys given out: 4,000
Total surveys answered: 3,784
Response rate: 96.85% (note that response rate will vary per individual question/data point; see dataset).
Original population: 2,629,242 (estimated number of total migrants from Myanmar in Thailand from pg. 9 of Rhoden, T. F., and Danny Unger. 2015. “No Burmese Returning: Economics across Myanmar-Thailand Border.” International Journal of East Asian Studies 19(2): 51-70. http://tinyurl.com/ow4cll7.)
Data points/observations: 50 per respondent (see codesheet).
Survey demographics: See dataset.
Languages: Survey was printed in Burmese and English. Any responses in Burmese were translated into English for ease of use here. See dataset for challenges/issues of some translations. Note that some respondents answered in Karen, which were also translated into English here.
Contact info: tfrhoden@niu.edu
License: This dataset is under creative commons license. It is free to use in any way, including, but not limited to, academic research, governmental- and nongovernmental-organization research, journalism, and/or others. Commercial use is prohibited.
Acknowledgements: Part of this survey timeframe overlaps with financial assistance from a Boren Fellowship to learn the Sgaw dialect of the Karen language(s) in Northern Thailand. For volunteer assistance in data collection outside of the refugee camps, author would like to thank Khin Soe Mon, education program manager at Help Without Frontiers (HWF) Thailand, Naing Naing Htun and the team at Burma Migrant Teachers Association (BMTA), along with a handfull of other local Burmese- and Karen-speaking volunteers who wish to stay anonymous. For assistance in data collection inside of the refugee camps, author would like to thank Maria Clara Naranjo, instructor with Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity (KRCEE), and other research assistants who wish to keep their identity anonymous. Author would also like to thank Kyaw (David) Pyae Sone of HWF for helping with translating the Internal Review Board (IRB) forms into Burmese and Ma (Zulu) Khin with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB) with help in translating the questions on the survey from English to Burmese. Any mistakes are the author’s own.
Papers by T F Rhoden
Quand on étudie les causes qui interviennent et finalement constituent la mobilité humaine en restant sourd – mais honnête – à ces deux millénaires de déplacements de victimes vers et hors du bassin du Chao Phraya, l’empirisme affirme que politique d’urgence et nécessités économiques sont inextricablement liées. Le danger est qu’en continuant à considérer chaque cas de migration comme un élément fondamentalement nouveau qui doit être étudié afin de donner un peu de respect de soi ou d’autonomie ou de fausse solidarité aux prochaines victimes concernées, nous ne faisons que nous rendre aveugles aux faits pertinents pour mieux dormir une nuit de plus.
Quelle que soit la solution, s’il elle existe, elle doit considérer en même temps les deux aspects de la question et comprendre que la mobilité est simplement une caractéristique universelle de notre espèce – quelque chose que la pathologie liée à dix millions d’années de civilisation agraire sédentarisée nous a fait oublier.
Des histoires de migrations couvrant des milliers d’années étudiées par des spécialistes en sciences politiques prenant en compte la démographie peuvent constituer une exception, alors les lecteurs sont invités à consulter le document et proposer une critique constructive tant que ce débat est dans sa première ébauche.
Book Reviews by T F Rhoden
Thesis Chapters by T F Rhoden
Title: Dataset of Burmese Migration-Concept Crossover in Thailand
Researcher/Author: T. F. Rhoden
Published: 25-Nov-15
Survey period: 20-Jun-15 to 19-Oct-15
Survey location: Thai side of Thailand-Myanmar border (see dataset for specific locations).
Total surveys given out: 4,000
Total surveys answered: 3,784
Response rate: 96.85% (note that response rate will vary per individual question/data point; see dataset).
Original population: 2,629,242 (estimated number of total migrants from Myanmar in Thailand from pg. 9 of Rhoden, T. F., and Danny Unger. 2015. “No Burmese Returning: Economics across Myanmar-Thailand Border.” International Journal of East Asian Studies 19(2): 51-70. http://tinyurl.com/ow4cll7.)
Data points/observations: 50 per respondent (see codesheet).
Survey demographics: See dataset.
Languages: Survey was printed in Burmese and English. Any responses in Burmese were translated into English for ease of use here. See dataset for challenges/issues of some translations. Note that some respondents answered in Karen, which were also translated into English here.
Contact info: tfrhoden@niu.edu
License: This dataset is under creative commons license. It is free to use in any way, including, but not limited to, academic research, governmental- and nongovernmental-organization research, journalism, and/or others. Commercial use is prohibited.
Acknowledgements: Part of this survey timeframe overlaps with financial assistance from a Boren Fellowship to learn the Sgaw dialect of the Karen language(s) in Northern Thailand. For volunteer assistance in data collection outside of the refugee camps, author would like to thank Khin Soe Mon, education program manager at Help Without Frontiers (HWF) Thailand, Naing Naing Htun and the team at Burma Migrant Teachers Association (BMTA), along with a handfull of other local Burmese- and Karen-speaking volunteers who wish to stay anonymous. For assistance in data collection inside of the refugee camps, author would like to thank Maria Clara Naranjo, instructor with Karen Refugee Committee Education Entity (KRCEE), and other research assistants who wish to keep their identity anonymous. Author would also like to thank Kyaw (David) Pyae Sone of HWF for helping with translating the Internal Review Board (IRB) forms into Burmese and Ma (Zulu) Khin with the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB) with help in translating the questions on the survey from English to Burmese. Any mistakes are the author’s own.
Quand on étudie les causes qui interviennent et finalement constituent la mobilité humaine en restant sourd – mais honnête – à ces deux millénaires de déplacements de victimes vers et hors du bassin du Chao Phraya, l’empirisme affirme que politique d’urgence et nécessités économiques sont inextricablement liées. Le danger est qu’en continuant à considérer chaque cas de migration comme un élément fondamentalement nouveau qui doit être étudié afin de donner un peu de respect de soi ou d’autonomie ou de fausse solidarité aux prochaines victimes concernées, nous ne faisons que nous rendre aveugles aux faits pertinents pour mieux dormir une nuit de plus.
Quelle que soit la solution, s’il elle existe, elle doit considérer en même temps les deux aspects de la question et comprendre que la mobilité est simplement une caractéristique universelle de notre espèce – quelque chose que la pathologie liée à dix millions d’années de civilisation agraire sédentarisée nous a fait oublier.
Des histoires de migrations couvrant des milliers d’années étudiées par des spécialistes en sciences politiques prenant en compte la démographie peuvent constituer une exception, alors les lecteurs sont invités à consulter le document et proposer une critique constructive tant que ce débat est dans sa première ébauche.