The Everyday Political Economy of Southeast Asia

'This genuinely multidisciplinary work by an impressive set of authors draws on three intersecting fields of study - International Political Economy (IPE), social anthropology and economic geography - as well as using original fieldwork from Southeast Asia to show how processes of market-building unfold on the ground involving non-elite, even marginalised or vulnerable groups, in a non-western setting. The authors demonstrate convincingly that an everyday approach adds value to more common elite-centred analyses of economic transformation by unmasking tensions, subjectivities and behaviours otherwise hidden from scholarly eyes directed towards elites. This book is highly recommended for students of political economy and of Southeast Asia for its nuanced analysis of non-elite agency, often in unexpected and seemingly non-rational ways, that complicates, perhaps even frustrates, top-down, elite-dominated agendas, plans and programmes.' Helen Nesadurai, Monash University, Malaysia
'Policy-makers and pundits are seduced by visions of an 'Asian century' ahead. In this context, the authors' carefully crafted volume grounds the discussion of Asia in the global economy by advancing scholarship on the everyday experience of sweeping economic changes. In focusing on Southeast Asia, the contributors to the volume highlight a region that has pioneered political-economic trends that have transformed our world in recent decades: the rise of export oriented economies, huge flows of migrants and remittances, and varying experiences of boom and bust. The interdisciplinary perspectives offered in the component chapters serve both to deepen our understanding of how Southeast Asian political economy plays out on a human scale, and extend important theoretical debates. The volume is a worthy successor to the work of scholars like James Scott and Benedict Kerkvliet who have immersed themselves in the study of the region to teach us about politics everywhere.' Jason Sharman, Sir Patrick Sheehy Professor of International Relations, University of Cambridge