Labour, Politics and the State in Industrialising Thailand

In this book Brown argues that workers in East and Southeast Asia are significant actors in political change. Critically examining the themes of labour weakness, political exclusion and insignificance of 'class factors' he aims to bring workers back from the margins, demonstrating that both in the present and past the state has been entangled in processes that determine the forms of their struggles. This book presents new empirical data, important historical material and an innovative approach to workers and politics.

Andrew Brown is a Research Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.

1. Introduction 2. Monarchs, Workers and Struggles for a Voice 3. The 1932 Coup d' état, Political Volatility and Labour's Fluctuating Fortunes 4. Radicalism, Shifting Alliances and Managing Labour's Political Space 5. Capitalist Expansion, Regime Dynamics and the Rise of Enterprise Unionism 6. EOI, Battles for the State and the Disorganization of Organized Labour 7. Organizing Labour in the 1990s: Crisis and Continuing Struggles for a Political Voice 8. Conclusion