Pacarayasara : a perturbing voice in Thai journalism

Abstract

This study documents the growth of the discourse of ‘god‐king’ (devaraja) around Thailand's King Bhumibol and explores how Brahmanical symbolisms of royal absolutism have acquired renewed potency alongside Buddhism as a basis of political legitimation in 21st century Thailand. Previous studies have interpreted the growing trend for Thailand's constitutional monarch to be represented as a ‘demi‐divine’ ‘virtual god‐king’ to reflect an ideological strategy set in train by mid‐20th century authoritarian military rule. However, political processes alone do not account fully for the persistence and intensification of this phenomenon since the end of military dictatorship. The pre‐modern discourse of ‘god‐king’ has also been given new life by visual media and the spectralisation of life under neoliberalism, which together produce a regime of representation that auraticises King Bhumibol. These technologies of enchantment have permitted emerging prosperity religions to be harnessed to a conservative nationalist agenda and, together with Thailand's strictly policed lese‐majesty law, have institutionalised a commodified and mass‐mediatised ideology of magico‐divine royal power that works to legitimate King Bhumibol's acquisition of political influence.     

Enlarging the social justice agenda in education: an analysis of rural teachers' narratives beyond the distributive dimension

The sustained disadvantages suffered by rural schools place the concept of social justice at the centre of any discussion of rural education. However, too often a one-size-fits-all model is adopted that equates it with distribution of resources. Drawing on Iris Marion Young's work, this paper instead demonstrates the necessity of adopting a plural framework of social justice that includes issues of recognition and participation within the current neoliberal environment. The author draws on findings from a qualitative study with teachers in two rural schools in Victoria, Australia. While the teachers acknowledged the importance of a better distribution of resources, just as significant was their concern for issues of power, respect and participation in their work. The author argues that the distributive dimension offers a useful but limited approach and that a plural framework of social justice better informs teachers' experiences, and contributes to their understanding of the contexts in which they work.     

当代金融资本霸权确立的原因与条件——一个政治经济学的视角

当代金融资本霸权的确立,是发达资本主义经济体内外诸多因素综合作用的结果。其中,关键性的推动因素有：资本主义生产方式内在矛盾的运动、新自由主义体制、金融资本的全球化、发达资本主义的国家力量。当代金融资本的霸权一经确立,便对资本主义经济运行以及中国的经济发展产生了重大影响。必须正确认识当代金融资本的霸权,制定相应的开放与发展战略。     

Reflexivity,position, and the ambivalent public space: the politics of educational policy in Taiwan’s local governments

The rise of reflexivity and neoliberalism has led to a change in the nature of the public sphere and policy management. Thus, focusing only on analyses of state-initiated policy and the actions of central government is not conducive to understanding the complex process of policy implementation today. Hence, this study aims to analyse the politics and process of policy implementation at the level of local government in Taiwan through two rounds of qualitative interviews. It is found that current policy environment has created the “agile” actors, which locates in the informally and flexibly collaborative space rather than structured within the formal institutions. And the value of administrators (accountability-orientated) is not favourable to successful implementation. Moreover, a successful case of policy implementation is also analysed. It is concluded that “reflexivity” and “position” in the “ambivalent public space” are the key factors to interpret the process of policy implementation. Finally, it is suggested that we should expand key actors’ “macro imagination” (recognizing the changing nature of the public sphere) and “micro imagination” (creating discourses reflecting current problems and reconstructing new possibilities) in the process of policy enactment.     

PhD by Publication: innovative approach to social science research,or operationalisation of the doctoral student … or both?

ABSTRACT

The PhD by Publication offers doctoral students an opportunity to focus on publishing during their candidature. A considerable body of literature has explored questions of legitimacy, consistency and quality of this model of scholarship, while students have reflected on how this approach helped build a publishing track record and develop skills associated with writing scholarly articles [Jackson, D. (2013). Completing a PhD by publication: A review of Australian policy and implications for practice. Higher Education Research & Development, 32(3), 355–368; Robins, L., & Kanowski, P. (2008). PhD by publication: A student’s perspective. Journal of Research Practice, 4(2), 1–20]. However, there is a need to explore how this approach both shapes and reflects the student experience of doctoral studies. This auto-ethnographical article analyses my own experience of the PhD by Publication. On the one hand, this method suited my multidisciplinary research topic and approach to research and assisted the flexibility and creativity of my research. On the other, I began to view my value as a researcher and the value of my research, in terms of the quantitative performance metrics of research in output, citation counts and h-index. Concept of performativity, I analyse how the PhD by Publication potentially reshapes what it is to be a doctoral student, and how the value of doctoral students is construed by themselves and others within their university.     

Practices of conformity and resistance in the marketisation of the academy: Bourdieu,professionalism and academic capitalism

The paper reports on an empirical study based on qualitative interviews with staff from four Australian universities. These universities are shown to be undergoing significant social change as processes of marketisation impact on the everyday practices of academic workers. The universities are analysed as sites of contestation between the new professional managers and the established academic profession over the control of the conditions of work, the production of expert knowledge and the worksite itself. The theory of academic capitalism is examined, and the relevance of Bourdieu’s work for the analysis of a university sector in a context of marketisation is assessed. Bourdieu’s interlinked concepts of capital, habitus and the field are employed to investigate the nature of the contestation, revealing a dynamic process in which academics innovatively respond to threats to reduce their autonomy, to increased levels of surveillance and other constraints on practice. In addition, the study illustrates the processes through which actors within the sector, through acts of both conformity and resistance, contribute collectively to the growth of academic capitalism in the neoliberal university.     

The state,markets and higher education reform in Botswana

Market forces are being introduced in public spheres such as higher education and public health, which hitherto were closed to such forces. Ironically, it is the state that is responsible for this process of marketisation. Some see this state action as leading to a growing influence of the state in public policy while others see an attenuation of its role. Critiquing this market–state incompatibility thesis from a geo-spatial perspective on globalisation, this paper calls for an articulation of state–market relations that emphasises their interpenetration. Using Botswana as a case study, the paper argues that although on-going tertiary education reforms in the country are characterised by the state's promotion of market forces this does not mean that the state is retreating, leaving the sub-sector to the vagaries of the market. Contrarily, the state is employing marketisation to reform the sub-sector so that it is responsive to labour and skills demands of an economy aspiring to be knowledge-based.     

战后成人教育发展的三种范式述评

新自由主义、批判主义和可持续发展是二战以来成人教育发展的三种范式。新自由主义强调成人教育在开发人力资本、培养现代人等方面对经济增长做出的重要贡献;批判主义突出成人教育在提升成人学习者个体批判与自我解放意识上的积极作用,旨在社会的平等和公正;可持续发展要求成人教育发展必须关注人、社会、经济、自然的和谐统一。每一种发展范式在不同程度上都有助于人们更好地理解和推动成人教育的实践,但同样也存有局限,它们不是相互取代而是还将继续共存。     

Equity and marketisation: a brief commentary

Beginning with a reflection on the Participation and Equity Program (PEP) in Australia in the 1980s, this response describes the distinctive ideological shift from a social democratic to a market conception of equity in education over the past three decades. This shift has been accompanied by changes in the techniques of educational governance, from the collaborative approach of the PEP, which emphasised the importance of trust in teachers as professionals, to new managerialism focused on efficiency and accountability. Market reforms in education have continued to use such traditionally socially democratic notions as equity, but have been enormously successful in re-articulating their meaning. A commentary is provided on the papers in this Special Issue and their collective analysis of governmental strategies that have led to this re-articulation of equity; the extent to which these strategies have been successful; the consequences they have had on students and school communities, and for the work of teachers and schools; and possibilities for creating new approaches in education that undermine the seemingly hegemonic neo-liberal imaginary and work towards a more progressive democratic view of educational equity.