Mapping National Anxieties: Thailand's Southern Conflict.

• Author: Liow, Joseph Chinyong
• Position: Book review

Mapping National Anxieties: Thailand's Southern Conflict. By Duncan McCargo. Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2012. Softcover: 213pp.

Duncan McCargo's previous book on the conflict in Thailand's southern provinces, Tearing Apart the Land (2008), won richly deserved accolades throughout the scholarly community. He has now followed up that celebrated work with a second volume.

In many ways, Mapping National Anxieties picks up where Tearing Apart the Land left off. While Tearing Apart the Land flags a number of issues surrounding the central theme of the difficult relations between Bangkok and the Malay-majority southern provinces, Mapping National Anxieties elaborates on them from the vantage of the Thai state. Specifically, it shows how the state has (mis)managed the situation in the south, and discusses the historical, cultural and political reasons that explain this policy mismanagement. Comprising in part of previously published papers and presentations, the topics drawn together in this book range from an assessment of how the military remained oblivious to the sensitivities of locals in the provinces despite its vast budget, to the inefficiencies of the National Reconciliation Council and how, as McCargo suggests, the "fractured nation" cannot simply be repaired through "reconciliation" (p. ix). He is also critical--and rightly so, in my opinion--of the Thai media for their simplistic coverage of some very complicated and complex dynamics in the provinces, which tend to demonize one side without a full appreciation of the situation.

Characteristically, McCargo does not shy away from offering views on possible solutions. He recommends, for instance, that government structures be reorganized so as to allow for greater local participation, as well as the formation of a ministry dedicated to the affairs of the southern provinces (p. 149).

Notwithstanding the masterly treatment of the fundamental policy missteps that plague Bangkok's attempts to resolve its problems in the south, it is, arguably, the book's capable and effective discussion of historical, political and cultural undercurrents that impresses most. In this regard, one of the more interesting chapters in the book is the second chapter, which exposes the varying opinions among various segments of the Buddhist majority in Thailand towards the issue of the south. Here, McCargo draws attention to concerns within the Buddhist community about the motivations behind the insurgent "movement"...