AID VOLATILITY AND DONOR REPUTATION: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM ZAMBIA

Title: AID VOLATILITY AND DONOR REPUTATION: EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE FROM ZAMBIA

Author: Lieke Snel

Year: 2025

Keywords: N/A

Themes: Post-development,Civil society and Democracy,Human Development and Human Security

Advisor(s): Dr. Pawin, Siriprapanukul, Ph.D.

The full thesis available N/A.

Abstract: The abrupt suspension of U.S. foreign aid in 2025 has raised questions about how aid volatility shapes donor reputation and the soft power of donor states. In Zambia, a country heavily affected by the 2025 aid cuts, the subsequent announcement of a new U.S. health sector commitment created an opportunity to examine whether donor reputation can be restored following a period of aid withdrawal. This study investigates the extent to which renewed U.S. health assistance influences trust, reputation, and willingness to cooperate with the United States, as well as how different aid framings shape these perceptions. Using a randomized video vignette experiment among Zambian respondents, participants were assigned to one of three conditions: aid cuts only, aid cuts followed by a neutrally framed health commitment, or aid cuts followed by a strategically framed health commitment emphasizing U.S. interests. The findings indicate that exposure to information about the aid cuts resulted in significantly less positive evaluations of the United States. However, renewed health assistance improved donor reputation and soft power-related outcomes relative to the cuts-only condition. These positive effects were significantly weaker when assistance was framed as serving American strategic interests. The study demonstrates that aid volatility can have important reputational consequences, while also showing that renewed assistance can help rebuild trust, reputation, and willingness to cooperate when perceived as a credible commitment rather than merely as a strategic instrument.

Digging deeper : coal workers’ perceptions of reskilling towards future career paths in the green energy transition at Mae Moh, Thailand

Title: Digging deeper : coal workers’ perceptions of reskilling towards future career paths in the green energy transition at Mae Moh, Thailand

Author: Tiana Voogt

Year: 2025

Keywords: N/A

Themes: Post-development,Human Development and Human Security

Advisor(s): Khathaleeya Liamdee

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to understand coal workers’ perceptions towards reskilling for the GET. Rather than assuming resistance or acceptance, this study seeks to understand the nuanced reality of workers' perspectives - their concerns about job quality and stability, their readiness for retraining, their trust (or lack thereof) in government and industry promises, and their visions for their own futures. By focusing on mid‑career, medium‑skilled workers, this research targets a group that are most exposed to transition risks, with significant remaining working years, yet substantial investment in their current occupations. This research examines those most directly impacted by policy decisions regarding the closing down of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Socio-economic impacts of foreign direct investment for long-term success : the case of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in Thailand

Title: Socio-economic impacts of foreign direct investment for long-term success : the case of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in Thailand

Author: Ping Wang

Year: 2025

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Electric Vehicle (EV), Chinese EV Manufacturer, Thailand, Automotive Industrial Transition, Social License to Operate (SLO)

Themes: Innovation for Inclusive Development , post-development

Advisor(s): Pungpond Rukumnuaykit

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: This thesis investigates the socio-economic impacts of Chinese Electric Vehicle (EV) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) within Thailand’s automotive ecosystem. Positioned at the intersection of international business and international development, the study addresses a critical strategic paradox: how efficiency-seeking multinational firms reconcile purely commercial cost-competitiveness configurations with legitimacy-seeking actions to secure a "Social License to Operate" (SLO) from host-country actors. Based on a theoretical framework constructed combing Ownership-Location-Internalization (OLI) Framework, the Institutional Theory and the Global Value Chain (GVC) Framework, this study examines the dualities of Chinese firms’ investment strategies and operational mechanisms driven by Thailand’s industrial policies and domestic realities. A qualitative methodology was employed, utilizing secondary desk research on empirical actions alongside primary data gathered via semi-structured, in-depth interviews with factory workers, corporate management, vocational trainers, and domestic suppliers. The findings reveal a distinct temporal pattern in the socio-economic impacts of Chinese EV investment in Thailand. In the short term, the rapid expansion of Chinese EV manufacturers intensifies market competition, compresses industry profit margins, and generates labor market adjustment pressures arising from skills mismatches. Traditional supplier networks also face structural challenges from the vertical integration practices of Chinese firms. In the long term, however, the global growth ambitions of Chinese firms drive greater localization, adaptability, and stakeholder engagement. Through partnership with vocational training and higher-education institutions, as well as collaboration with established Thai suppliers, Chinese EV investment cultivates human capital enhancement, technological upgrading, and deeper industrial integration. These processes are expected to accelerate Thailand’s green industrial transformation, enhance income-generating opportunities, and strengthen long-term economic resilience.

Thailand's official development assistance: an analysis of development diplomacy

Title: Thailand's official development assistance: an analysis of development diplomacy

Author: Monrada Yamkasikorn

Year: 2025

Keywords: Development diplomacy, Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, Official Development Assistance

Themes: Post-development,Civil society and Democracy

Advisor(s): Kasira Cheeppensook

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: This study examines Thailand’s transition from an aid recipient to an emerging donor and analyzes the evolution and limitations of its Official Development Assistance (ODA). It seeks to explain how Thailand has repositioned itself within the global development architecture and the implications of this shift for regional development dynamics. Drawing on political economy of aid, this study argues that Thailand’s donor transformation reflects a gradual and context-driven process shaped by both domestic developments and evolving regional norms, rather than a purely linear outcome of economic growth. The formal articulation of donor status, particularly during the administration of Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, the-then Prime Minister, can be understood as part of a broader effort to align Thailand with emerging practices of South–South cooperation. Nevertheless, the transition continues to face limitations, particularly in terms of strategic coherence, policy direction, and the ability to generate sustained and strategic development cooperation. The findings indicate that while Thailand’s ODA contributes to her role on active development diplomacy and addressing regional cooperation norms, it remains constrained by fragmented institutional coordination, effective evaluation mechanism, and resource limitations. A predominantly state-centric and top-down approach, combined with an emphasis on soft power objectives, may further limit local ownership and responsiveness to recipient needs. Moreover, Thailand’s aid practices may reproduce patterns of interdependence, even in the absence of deliberate intent. The study concludes that Thailand occupies an intermediate position in global development governance, where development assistance simultaneously reflects cooperation and strategic influence expansion.

Soulaani praxis : the blueprint they called radical development

Title: Soulaani praxis : the blueprint they called radical development

Author: Aliyah Bell

Year: 2025

Keywords: Soulaan, Racial capitalism, Institution-building, Organized abandonment, Freedom farms cooperative, Black panther party, Black americans

Themes: Post-development,Human Development and Human Security

Advisor(s): Thanapan Laiprako

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: The United States is built upon foundational contradictions, promising liberty while institutionalizing slavery and promoting democracy while denying rights to many. Rather than treating these contradictions as historical anomalies, this thesis examines them as central features of a racialized social order that has shaped the political, economic, and developmental experiences of Soulaani people. Throughout this study, the term Soulaani refers to descendants of Africans forcibly brought to the United States through the transatlantic slave trade whose ancestral lineage is rooted within the American experience of slavery and its enduring legacies. Within this context, Black resistance has often been framed as a struggle for rights and recognition. Yet it has also functioned as a site of development, generating alternative systems of survival, care, and collective advancement. Drawing from Development Studies, Political Thought, and theories of cultural hegemony, this research explores how Soulaani communities responded to exclusion by creating institutions, practices, and forms of collective action that challenged dominant understandings of development. Through an examination of community-led initiatives, political organizing, and self-determination, the thesis investigates how development can emerge from below rather than solely through the state, market, or international institutions. By centering Soulaani experiences, this study contributes to broader debates on development, power, and social transformation while inviting a reconsideration of who is recognized as a producer of development and what forms development can take.

Understanding pluriversal ontology: the cases of three alternative agriculture communities in Sisaket province, northeastern, Thailand

Title: Understanding pluriversal ontology: the cases of three alternative agriculture communities in Sisaket province, northeastern, Thailand

Author: Thita Ornin

Year: 2024

Keywords: Alternative Agriculture, Post-development, Pluriverse, Ontology

Themes: Post-development, Environmental Politics and Policy, Innovation for Inclusive Development

Advisor(s): Carl Nigel Middleton

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: In reaction to the global development paradigm, the concept of Pluriverse has played a pivotal role in exploring alternatives to development, aiming to foster a world that accommodates multiple worlding with the goals to facilitate various approaches to collective well-being, moving away from anthropocentric, linear growth within the modern capitalist development. This thesis seeks to understand alternative agriculture cases in the Northeast of Thailand through the Pluriversal ontology conceptual framework and to determine its usefulness through the following proposed framework; (1) alternative agricultural development discourse analysis, (2) friction and assimilation with modernity and (3) post-development values. Taken an inspiration from various global south countries’ literature especially from South Asia and Latin America, the thesis adds empirical case studies from Sisaket province, Thailand, to the literature. Firstly, the Buddhist community of Srisa Asoke which engages in natural farming guided by a stringent Buddhist moral code. Secondly, the Taam and People Association, a social movement which comprises individuals whose wetland livelihoods are impacted by the Rasi Salai dam. Lastly, Raitong and SCFN Farmers, a social enterprise-oriented organization dedicating to support smallholder organic farmers in participating in the global food market while adopting the principles of organic farming and fair-trade global standards.This thesis is a qualitative study based on the use of primary and secondary data and extensive fieldwork, including participant observation and numerous in-depth interviews with identified community members.It argues that the case studies can be identified with more than one alternative agriculture development discourse at a time, and that discourses are fluid and influential to one another. The three alternative cases also illustrated coexistence with the mainstream development, creating friction and strategic self-assimilation with modernity represented by state, surplus, and science. And the post-development values discussed in this paper including simplicity, justice, equity and non-hierarchy, rights, non-violence, the economy of care and gender inclusivity, prosperity and dignity, autonomy and self-reliance, solidarity and reciprocity, common ethics, oneness with nature, although similar values are found in alternative communities worldwide, the practical nuances of these values from Thailand differ from other countries in the Global South. The values aligned with post-development can empower the communities to maintain their alternative identities, allowing them to practically navigate within the mainstream context while holding onto diverse imaginaries. This is to say that alternative agriculture movement, all has varied ontological realities which were influenced by interplays on external development agendas, and internal idealism. All can shape forms of social change in their own scale whether the approaches are called reformative or transformative

Thailand's never-ending pesticide debate: Contested future sociotechnical imaginaries through a relational co-productionist lens

Title: Thailand's never-ending pesticide debate: Contested future sociotechnical imaginaries through a relational co-productionist lens

Author: Henriette Erawan Kamphorst

Year: 2024

Keywords: Sociotechnical Imaginaries, Pathways, Relational Co-production, Sustainable Agriculture, Futures thinking

Themes: Environmental Politics and Policy, Health, Post-development

Advisor(s): Carl Nigel Middleton

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: Since the introduction of the Green Revolution, the use of agrochemicals in Thai farming has sparked repeated contentious debates among local policy elites, addressing issues such as consumer health, farmer livelihoods, and environmental degradation. In 2019, this subject re-emerged on the policy agenda with the proposed ban of three key agrochemicals: Chlorpyrifos, Paraquat, and Glyphosate. In order to understand why the pesticide issue has remained on policy actors’ agendas for so long and still continues to be subject to ongoing debate, this research takes on a new perspective by adopting a relational co-productionist approach in the construction of contesting sociotechnical imaginaries of Thailand’s future pathways to sustainable agriculture. It examines how these imaginaries shape the positions of two dominant movements in this debate: Sustainable Intensification (SI), which advocates for controlled pesticide use to maintain food security, and Agroecology (AE), which seeks fundamental reform of the global food system for food sovereignty.This study employs a qualitative research design built on 29 in-depth interviews with actors from relevant epistemic communities supporting each sociotechnical imaginary. The conceptual framework guided the interview process, focusing on the four sociotechnical dimensions to enable for a comparative analysis of their interactions.The study produced notable key findings. Firstly, by exposing the chronology of events that led to the window of opportunity for a ban policy to emerge, it becomes clear that the political context of the 2019 general election played a critical role in involving public health experts and shifting the debate toward health-related issues rather than the more common environmental focus. Secondly, the intertwined nature of the narratives leading both imaginaries has often led to any debates quickly reaching an impasse as arguments become repetitive and outcomes unchanged, with the notable contention being the true definition of what sustainable agriculture truly means. Thirdly, agrochemicals are shown to be either viewed as part of the solution by the SI supporters or as part of the problem by AE advocates leading to different kinds of knowledge bases to be created and built upon. Based on these findings, the recommendation is made that each side has the potential to take a step forward in attempting to find common ground together by shifting collaborative dialogue towards long-term future making, with the inclusion of farmers’ voices who may offer a relatively lesser heard yet vital perspective in policy debates. This study delivers strong implications that the framework of relational co-production of sociotechnical imaginaries offers policymakers a lens for understanding the roots of policy inertia by situating debates in the context of their position in peoples’ future making of the world and the technological systems associated with these