Description
Book SynopsisSince January 2004, a violent separatist insurgency has raged in southern Thailand, resulting in more than three thousand deaths. Though largely unnoticed outside Southeast Asia, the rebellion in Pattani and neighboring provinces and the Thai...
Trade ReviewIn this introduction to a scandalously underreported conflict... McCargo rightly scorns the legions of post-9/11 armchair analysts who try to shoehorn every conflict with Islamic overtones into well-Googled theories of global jihad. No armchairs for this author: he researched the book by crisscrossing southern Thailand in a temperamental 1989 Mercedes, hastening back to the town of Pattani by nightfall to avoid militants' booby traps. McCargo is the real McCoy.... For McCargo, the only long-term solution combines firm action against the perpetrators of violence and 'substantive autonomy' for Thailand's three southernmost, predominantly Malay-speaking and Muslim provinces.
* Time Magazine *
Original, fascinating, and important.... McCargo has sifted through the details of this tragic conflict with extraordinary diligence and insight. The result is a small masterpiece of investigative rigor and balance. It is an especially welcome corrective to those tempted to see the hand of al-Qaeda in all Muslim insurgencies.
* Journal of Asian Studies *
Thailand, once known as one of the most stable democracies in Asia, is in political and economic crisis.... Southern Thailand now resembles a war zone.... McCargo gives a thorough explanation of why unrest began in southern Thailand, and why it has spread.... By the end of 2008, more than 3000 people had been killed in the south since the beginning of the decade. Bangkok still refuses to consider any form of real autonomy for the region and McCargo is pessimistic about the future.
* London Review of Books *
The well-written and researched book provides a much-needed detailed analysis of the violent conflicts in three Malay-Muslim provinces of southern Thailand—Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat.... It is a 'must-read' book for anybody interested in Thai politics. The way McCargo situates the violent conflicts in the nature of the interaction between the center and the periphery is particularly illuminating.
* Southeast Asian Studies *
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION1. ISLAM2. POLITICS3. SECURITY4. MILITANTSCONCLUSIONGlossary
Notes
Index
