The focus of this study is to analyze the relationship of change in Thailand¡¦s southern policy and separatist movements, or the relationship between the Bangkok regime¡¦s policies toward Malay-Muslims in southern Thailand and the Separatist Movement. The research approach is to explain the root causes for Malay-Muslim in southern Thailand in armed resistance against the central government, moderation and radical periods in the Separatist Movement. According to historical institutionalism, the process of institutional and historical development is a ¡§punctuated equilibrium,¡¨ and historical contexts evolve according to ¡§path dependency.¡¨ Except when crises in the external environmental changes cause ¡§punctuated equilibria,¡¨ it would basically cause those in power to establish new coping strategies that cause change or collapse to the old system. In late 19th century, expansion by the English and French colonialism and imperialism in Indochina caused King Chulalongkorn to accelerate reform in national territorialization and power centralization. In turn, the Kingdom of Patani was transformed from a vassal state to a province in southern Siam, ending the power of Malay Rajas, which motivated the historical origins of southern Thailand separatism. A review of the Thai historical development found that, after Chulalongkorn the crises in external environmental change frequently lead the ruling regime in Bangkok to establish new southern Thailand policies. In sum, the external environmental changes in the temporal sequence of colonial empires fighting for their interests against each other, threat of the Communist Party, Democratization, Globalization and war on counter-terrorism affected the new southern policies of Thailand by Rama VI, Phibun Songkram, Sarit Thanarat, Thanom Kittikachorn, Prem Tinsulanonda, and Thaksin Shinawatra. It is also intimately connected to the radicalism or moderation of the Malay-Muslim Separatist Movement.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 308-326). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 308-326). Also available on the Internet.

For years there has been an ongoing conflict, geographically concerning the southern parts of Thailand. The Malay-Muslim inhabitants of the area state that they do not fully belong to Buddhist Thailand and therefore require independence in various forms. Along with the Muslims, the Buddhist inhabitants of the area also suffer from daily violence and killings. The counteractions over the years seems to have resulted in chaotic conditions where civilians die regularly. After many years of violence, this complex situation has not successfully been ended and is still current. This case study will examine the requisites for peace in southern Thailand. The conflict has been studied through a conflict management perspective, thereof the choice of theory; Svante Karlsson’s conflict management theory. The conflict has been described, discussed and applied to the chosen theory. Results presented in this study shows that it is possible to achieve peace in the southern provinces of Thailand, however cooperation between the parts is necessary. A combination of several conflict management methods by Svante Karlsson can possibly result in peace in southern Thailand.

For centuries Islam and Muslims have been subject to islamophobic attitudes in the west. The purpose with this study was to see into the making of open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims from a conflict in southern Thailand, and also to so see if Muslims are portrayed as more violent than the Buddhist groups in the conflict. The aim of the study is also to see if Muslims fall into a violent stereotype. This was studied by looking at five Swedish newspapers coverage of the conflict, during a given time. To be able to look into this, two theories will be used, the first one is the Runnymede Trust theory, which is about open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims. The second one is Duncan’s violent stereotype theory, which will be used to see differences between the Muslims and the Buddhists when it comes to the use of violence, and also to see if Muslims are portrayed as a violent stereotyped group. The method was a psychology discourse method with a theory driven analysis with Template Analyze Style. The conclusion of the study was that there was a mix of open and closed attitudes against Islam and Muslims, where the closed attitudes follow a pattern of earlier studies. Another conclusion from the study was that there are only small differences in the portraying of the different groups as more and less violent, where the Muslims tend to be portrayed as a bit more violent but the differences are small. And from that conclusion it is not possible from the material to say that there are any clear stereotypes of Muslims as a violent group.

This thesis illustrates how love, legality, money, sex(uality) and sin direct Malays’ marital strategies in the face of various social, moral, religious and structural pressures. Passionate love (cinta) is cherished and celebrated by Malays – that is, if it is indulged within marriage. Marriage serves as a license to engage in (otherwise illicit) sexual desires by rendering them “halal” or lawful in the eyes of Islam and Malay adat (traditions). A vigilant State-led Islamic Bureaucracy, which polices and punishes pre- or extramarital sexual liaisons between unmarried couples through strict moral surveillance, further ensures that access to physical intimacy remains a conjugal privilege. However, hindered by complex bureaucratic procedures for marriage and pressured by escalating passions, many of my Malay informants are compelled to seek cheaper, quicker, and discreet alternatives in neighboring Southern Thailand to “halal-ize” pre- or extramarital romances, resulting in secret – and legally contentious – monogamous or polygamous cross-border marriages. Cross-border marriages – specifically polygamous ones – are subsequently explored here as a careful (and often failed) negotiation between discretion and disclosure: their stability decreases with increased exposure, rendering them highly precarious. Contrary to the dominant male-centric scholarship on polygamy, this study privileges the perspectives and experiences of polygamous wives by considering how their position within the marriage informs their capacity to engage in – or conversely, disengage from – this multi-marital arrangement. Polygamy is embraced by some women as a female choice that secures access to marriage and motherhood – both crucial towards achieving Malay womanhood. For others, polygamy is hardly a “choice” at all, and they must cope with the discomforting reality in which the husband’s money, time, and attention are now “halved” between his wives. Love in polygamy is experienced in visible and measurable terms, and the husband’s unequal distribution of his emotional and economic resources create discontent among wives that may culminate in divorce, or covertly confronted through sorcery. In Malay polygamy, more therefore means less.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis explores the ongoing Malay-Muslim separatist insurgency in southern Thailand. In particular, it argues that historically-rooted structural factors, to include relative economic deprivation, limited political integration, and struggle for the maintenance of ethnic-religious identity, are at the root of this insurgency. The year 2001 produced two catalysts for the renewal of this insurgency, one internal and one external. The internal catalyst was a newly elected suppressive government regime under the leadership of Prime Minister Thaksin and the Thai Rak Thai Party. The external catalyst was the growing, increasingly radicalized Islamist movement, largely defined through terrorist violence, that expressed itself in the 9/11 attacks. The combination of these has produced rekindled secessionist violence of a previously unknown level in the Thai provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, and Yala. Given the deeply ingrained structural cause of this insurgency, as well as a government administration whose policies and conflict mismanagement continually fuels the violence, the prospect for conflict resolution is not promising. Nonetheless, it remains in the best interests of the United States that this conflict is soon resolved. Should the insurgency continue growing, the situation may reach a point of drastic consequences for Thailand as well as the United States. / Captain, United States Air Force