Seminars

Abstract:  How do totemic political dissidents behave once propelled into their first elected office? Can the resources and strategies they initially develop explain their subsequent electoral (mis)fortunes? This talk investigates the legislative activity of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's iconic politician, when she was an opposition backbencher in Myanmar’s first ‘post-junta’ parliament (2012-2016). It draws evidence from Burmese-language proceedings and field interviews to shed light on the behaviour and tactics used by such a near-mythical figure transitioning from a position of informal authority to official power. What legislative tools did the iconic dissident use in a legislature dominated by an army-backed ruling party and military-appointed legislators? Did she act as party whip? Did she model herself as a frontbencher disciplining MPs, and steadily holding government bodies accountable? What does her legislative action (or lack thereof) tell us about the role and influence of emblematic dissenters propelled into their first elected post?

Abstract:  Existing studies on China’s relations with Southeast Asia tend to focus on China’s power dynamics with regional states, and how such power has been used to achieve influence in the region. Focusing on the intentionality, influence is thus defined as how China uses its power to coerce, induce, and persuade others to behave in a particular way. Relatedly, much emphasis has been put on the Chinese state as the willing agent. This talk goes beyond such convention, and intends to explore, in addition to influences, what are the unintended consequences and ripple effects related with the presence of China in Southeast Asia. This talk thus lays down a typology for thinking through the varieties of China’s presence in Southeast Asia in their everyday forms. It argues that we need to understand such complexity to make sense of China’s relations with Southeast Asia and the implications of such relations.