Energy, Governance and Security in Thailand and Myanmar (Burma): A Critical Approach to Environmental Politics in the South

The worldwide search for new and secure supplies of energy is especially visible in Asia where rapid industrialization in states such as China and India has fomented a scramble for energy resources. Due to entrenched societal inequities and widespread authoritarian governance, however, the pursuit of national energy security through transnational energy projects has had a devastating impact on the human and environmental security of local populations. This is especially so in Thailand and Myanmar, countries that are increasingly engaged in the cross-border energy trade. Based on extensive fieldwork and theoretical analysis, this ground-breaking book proposes a new critical approach to energy and environmental security. It also explores the important role that local and transnational environmental movements play, in the absence of effective and democratic governments, by providing ‘activist environmental governance’ for energy projects throughout the region. By comparing the nature of this activism under two very different political regimes, it delivers crucial theoretical insights with both academic and policy implications for the sustainable and equitable development of the South’s natural resources. First published in hardback in 2014, this new, updated paperback edition offers much to scholars, professionals, policy-makers, NGOs, businesses, journalists and others working or concerned with energy issues.

• Adam Simpson, Author

  Adam Simpson is Director of the Centre for Peace and Security, Hawke Research Institute, and Senior Lecturer in International Studies at the University of South Australia. He is also Adjunct Research Fellow at the Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University. He was previously Associate Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Adelaide and worked as an analyst with investment banks in the City of London.