Land and Loyalty: Security and the Development of Property Rights in Thailand

by Tomas Larsson

Overview

Domestic and international development strategies often focus on private ownership as a crucial anchor for long-term investment; the security of property rights provides a foundation for capitalist expansion. In recent years, Thailand's policies have been hailed as a prime example of how granting formal land rights to poor farmers in low-income countries can result in economic benefits. But the country provides a puzzle: Thailand faced major security threats from colonial powers in the nineteenth century and from communism in the twentieth century, yet only in the latter case did the government respond with pro-development tactics.

In Land and Loyalty, Tomas Larsson argues that institutional underdevelopment may prove, under certain circumstances, a strategic advantage rather than a weakness and that external threats play an important role in shaping the development of property regimes. Security concerns, he find, often guide economic policy. The domestic legacies, legal and socioeconomic, resulting from state responses to the outside world shape and limit the strategies available to politicians. While Larsson's extensive archival research findings are drawn from Thai sources, he situates the experiences of Thailand in comparative perspective by contrasting them with the trajectory of property rights in Japan, Burma, and the Philippines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801450815
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	06/15/2012
Series:	Cornell Studies in Political Economy
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Tomas Larsson is Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables ix

Acknowledgments xi

1 Securitization and Institutional Development 1

2 Capitalizing Thailand 15

3 Weapon of a Weak State 30

4 Conserving Smallholder Society 73

5 Combating Specters and Communists 108

6 Old Solutions, New Challenges 147

Notes 153

Bibliography 171

Index 201

What People are Saying About This

Peter Vandergeest

Land and Loyalty makes a strong argument that will certainly cause many scholars of Southeast Asia to rethink colonial history, extraterritoriality, and land rights. Tomas Larsson demonstrates the significance of land-rights regimes both in terms of their current importance in development policies and also as an entry point to better understand Thailand's relationship with colonizing states. This book will have lasting value.

Stephan M. Haggard

Deeply rooted in knowledge of the case and drawing on both diplomatic archives and Thai sources, Tomas Larsson gives us a definitive treatment of the evolution of property rights in Thailand, where they have been an important contributor to long-term growth.

Editorial Reviews

In this excellent book, Tomas Larsson seeks to explain the origins of effective formal property rights to land in Thailand.... His highly original approach to the question is a model of concise, analytically-driven historical research... Land and Loyalty makes an original and stimulating contribution not just to the understanding of land rights in Thailand but to much broader debates over political economy, development, and state formation. It makes a sophisticated set of arguments without sacrificing readability, and it is packed with fascinating historical detail.

Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde [Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia] - Derek Hall

This book is a valuable addition to the slight literature on land policy in Thailand. The narrative on the making of land policy extends significantly beyond earlier studies and has many new revelations. Larsson points up his arguments by comparisons with parallel cases in Japan, Burma, and the Philippines.

Asian-Pacific Economic Literature - Chris Baker

This book is well-written, clearly organized, and based on a hefty array of sources, including court and government documents. The nuanced argument is carefully traced throughout the book. The emphasis on perceived security concerns to fend off colonial, capitalist and communist threats is warranted.... I strongly recommend Land and Loyalty to scholars of property rights and state formation. This is a good book to think with.

Pacific Affairs - Janet C. Sturgeon

Is the rhetoric that 'farmers are the backbone of the Thai nation' still relevant today? Larsson offers a nuanced analysis of the emergence of the Thai state very much in conversation with recent critical scholarship examining how and why appeals to such rhetoric continue to legitimize the disparate work and goals of multiple state and non-state actors within Thailand.... While written for a broader political economy of development audience, the detailed archival work and innovative arguments mean that this book should be required reading for scholars with an interest in agrarian history as well as those with interest in the relationships between the Thai state and its ‘backbone.’.

Journal of Southeast Asian Studies - Vanessa Lamb

With Land and Loyalty: Security and the Development of Property Rights in Thailand, political scientist Tomas Larsson presents an original and provocative study on thehistorical origins of Thailand's property rights regime.

Journal of Asian Studies - Keith Barney

"Deeply rooted in knowledge of the case and drawing on both diplomatic archives and Thai sources, Tomas Larsson gives us a definitive treatment of the evolution of property rights in Thailand, where they have been an important contributor to long-term growth."

Stephan M. Haggard

"Land and Loyalty makes a strong argument that will certainly cause many scholars of Southeast Asia to rethink colonial history, extraterritoriality, and land rights. Tomas Larsson demonstrates the significance of land-rights regimes both in terms of their current importance in development policies and also as an entry point to better understand Thailand's relationship with colonizing states. This book will have lasting value."

Peter Vandergeest

"Is the rhetoric that 'farmers are the backbone of the Thai nation' still relevant today? Larsson offers a nuanced analysis of the emergence of the Thai state very much in conversation with recent critical scholarship examining how and why appeals to such rhetoric continue to legitimize the disparate work and goals of multiple state and non-state actors within Thailand. . . . While written for a broader political economy of development audience, the detailed archival work and innovative arguments mean that this book should be required reading for scholars with an interest in agrarian history as well as those with interest in the relationships between the Thai state and its ‘backbone.’"—Vanessa Lamb, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies

"This book is well-written, clearly organized, and based on a hefty array of sources, including court and government documents. The nuanced argument is carefully traced throughout the book. The emphasis on perceived security concerns to fend off colonial, capitalist and communist threats is warranted. . . . I strongly recommend Land and Loyalty to scholars of property rights and state formation. This is a good book to think with."—Janet C. Sturgeon, Pacific Affairs (September 2013)

"In this excellent book, Tomas Larsson seeks to explain the origins of effective formal property rights to land in Thailand. . . . His highly original approach to the question is a model of concise, analytically-driven historical research . . . Land and Loyalty makes an original and stimulating contribution not just to the understanding of land rights in Thailand but to much broader debates over political economy, development, and state formation. It makes a sophisticated set of arguments without sacrificing readability, and it is packed with fascinating historical detail."—Derek Hall, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde [Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia] (Vol. 170, 2014)

"With Land and Loyalty: Security and the Development of Property Rights in Thailand, political scientist Tomas Larsson presents an original and provocative study on thehistorical origins of Thailand's property rights regime."—Keith Barney, Journal of Asian Studies (February 2016)

"This book is a valuable addition to the slight literature on land policy in Thailand. The narrative on the making of land policy extends significantly beyond earlier studies and has many new revelations. Larsson points up his arguments by comparisons with parallel cases in Japan, Burma, and the Philippines."—Chris Baker, Asian-Pacific Economic Literature

"Land and Loyalty makes a strong argument that will certainly cause many scholars of Southeast Asia to rethink colonial history, extraterritoriality, and land rights. Tomas Larsson demonstrates the significance of land-rights regimes both in terms of their current importance in development policies and also as an entry point to better understand Thailand's relationship with colonizing states. This book will have lasting value."—Peter Vandergeest, York University

"Deeply rooted in knowledge of the case and drawing on both diplomatic archives and Thai sources, Tomas Larsson gives us a definitive treatment of the evolution of property rights in Thailand, where they have been an important contributor to long-term growth."—Stephan M. Haggard, Lawrence and Sallye Krause Professor of Korea-Pacific Studies and Director of the Korea-Pacific Program, University of California, San Diego

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