About Duncan McCargo

Duncan McCargo writes about Southeast Asia, especially Thailand's politics. Other interests include contemporary fiction, Victorian literature, photography and the Titanic disaster. Duncan is a professor of global affairs at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He co-founded the Nordic Asia Podcast and is a host for the Literature and Southeast Asian Studies Channels on NBN. Contact: duncan.mccargo@ntu.edu.sg

Duncan McCargo is an eclectic, internationalist political scientist, and literature buff: his day job is teaching global affairs at NTU in Singapore.

Duncan's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Duncan:

Petra Alderman, "Branding Authoritarian Nations: Political Legitimation and Strategic National Myths in Military-Ruled Thailand" (Routledge, 2023)

February 1, 2024

Branding Authoritarian Nations

Petra Alderman
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

What does nation-branding mean to you? For many listeners, the term probably conjures up ideas of catchy slogans and international tourism or trade pr…

Saving the Brontë Birthplace

December 19, 2023

Saving the Brontë Birthplace

Christa Ackroyd and Steve Stanworth
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Where were the Brontë sisters actually born? If this was a quiz question, most people would give the wrong answer. Even standard books on the Brontë f…

Amy H. Liu and Jacob I. Ricks, "Ethnicity and Politics in Southeast Asia" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

September 1, 2023

Ethnicity and Politics in Southeast Asia

Amy H. Liu and Jacob I. Ricks
Hosted by Duncan McCargo
Listen:

What explains the varying treatment of ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia? Why have some states in the region been far more successful than others in…

Cause Lawyering and Human Rights in Indonesia

August 4, 2023

Cause Lawyering and Human Rights in Indonesia

Tim Mann
Hosted by Duncan McCargo
Listen:

Why have issues of human rights become so contentious in Indonesia, 25 years after the much-heralded post-Suharto democratic transition? What kind of …

Helen Ting M. H. and Donald L. Horowitz, "Electoral Reform and Democracy in Malaysia" (NIAS, 2022)

July 21, 2023

Electoral Reform and Democracy in Malaysia

Helen Ting M. H. and Donald L. Horowitz
Hosted by Duncan McCargo
Listen:

Why is Malaysia in need of electoral reform? How can we explain recent changes including the anti-party hopping law and the successful UNDI18 campaign…

Ethnicity and Nation-Building in Myanmar: A Conversation with Cecile Medaile

July 14, 2023

Ethnicity and Nation-Building in Myanmar

Cecile Medaile
Hosted by Duncan McCargo
Listen:

Did the bloody 1 February 2021 military coup in Myanmar produce an unexpected ‘solidarity dividend’ by unifying opponents of the new regime from a ran…

Amitav Acharya, "Tragic Nation: Burma--Why and How Democracy Failed" (Penguin Random House, 2023)

May 27, 2023

Tragic Nation

Amitav Acharya
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

What went wrong with Burma’s democratic experiment? How are we to understand the country’s turbulent politics in the wake of the 2021 coup? In this c…

Eugénie Mérieau, "Constitutional Bricolage: Thailand's Sacred Monarchy vs. The Rule of Law" (Bloomsbury, 2021)

March 6, 2023

Constitutional Bricolage

Eugénie Mérieau
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why has Thailand had 20 constitutions since 1932? What accounts for the remarkable veneration Thais often feel towards these short-lived documents? Ho…

Joshua Kurlantzick, "Beijing's Global Media Offensive: China's Uneven Campaign to Influence Asia and the World" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 24, 2023

Beijing's Global Media Offensive

Joshua Kurlantzick
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

How is China trying to influence media across Asia and indeed globally? Why has this ambitious project achieved rather mixed results so far? And how s…

Philippe Peycam, "Cultural Renewal in Cambodia: Academic Activism in the Neoliberal Era" (Brill and ISEAS, 2020)

December 16, 2022

Cultural Renewal in Cambodia

Philippe Peycam
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

How far did post-UNTAC Cambodia exemplified an expanded Habermasian public sphere? What happened when a range of aid agencies, private donors, activis…

Cornelia Baciu, "Civil-Military Relations and Global Security Governance: Strategy, Hybrid Orders and the Case of Pakistan" (Routledge, 2022)

November 4, 2022

Civil-Military Relations and Global Security Governance

Cornelia Baciu
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

What are the problems with Samuel Huntington’s views about civil-military relations? Why do military coups persist in countries such as Pakistan, and …

Japanese Immigration and the Korean Minority

July 22, 2022

Japanese Immigration and the Korean Minority

Sara Park
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why does Japanese immigration policy have such a bad name? What are the historical origins of tight immigration policies? Where have these policies le…

Publishing in Asian Studies Journals

July 15, 2022

Publishing in Asian Studies Journals

Julie Yu-Wen Chen and Hyung-Gu Lynn
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

How can we get our articles in Asian studies published? What criteria should we use in selecting what journals to target? On what basis do journal edi…

Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "A Soldier King: Monarchy and Military in the Thailand of Rama X" (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2022)

July 4, 2022

A Soldier King

Supalak Ganjanakhundee
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

What is the relationship between the military and the monarchy in Thailand? How has that relationship changed since King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) assum…

The Struggle for Hong Kong: A Conversation with Jeffrey Wasserstrom

July 1, 2022

The Struggle for Hong Kong

Jeffrey Wasserstrom
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why should we view the anti-China protests that began in Hong Kong in 2019 through a comparative lens? How do earlier episodes in Hong Kong’s history …

Puangthong Pawakapan, "Infiltrating Society: The Thai Military’s Internal Security Affairs" (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2021)

May 2, 2022

Infiltrating Society

Puangthong Pawakapan
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why is the Thai military so deeply embedded in socio-economic development projects, longer after the end of the Cold War? How come serving generals co…

The Future of Japanese Studies

April 29, 2022

The Future of Japanese Studies

Aike P. Rots
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Does the rise of China mean that studying Japan is inexorably declining? Many students become interested in Japan because of popular culture, such man…

Understanding Timor-Leste's 2022 Presidential Elections

March 21, 2022

Understanding Timor-Leste's 2022 Presidential Elections

Amber Woortman
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Timor-Leste is choosing a president. What is the significance of the 2022 presidential elections in Timor-Leste? Has Asia’s youngest and newest countr…

Adele Webb, "Chasing Freedom: The Philippines Long Journey to Democratic Ambivalence" (Sussex Academic Press, 2022)

March 1, 2022

Chasing Freedom

ADELE. WEBB
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

In conversation with Duncan McCargo about her new book Chasing Freedom: The Philippines Long Journey to Democratic Ambivalence (Sussex Academic Press,…

The Politics of Protest in Myanmar, with Van Tran

February 4, 2022

The Politics of Protest in Myanmar

Van Tran
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why has Myanmar experienced so many massive street protests recent years? How can we go about studying these sorts of mass demonstrations? What kinds …

Rommel Argamosa Curaming, "Power and Knowledge in Southeast Asia: State and Scholars in Indonesia and the Philippines" (Routledge, 2019)

January 3, 2022

Power and Knowledge in Southeast Asia

Rommel Argamosa Curaming
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why did leading historians in both Indonesia and the Philippines become involved in projects to write national histories during the 1970s? How far wer…

East Asian Cold War History with a Maritime Twist

December 27, 2021

East Asian Cold War History with a Maritime Twist

Kuan-Jen Chen
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

When did the Cold War in East Asia really begin? According to ADI-NIAS researcher Kuan-Jen Chen, the answer is 1945 – if we view the Cold War through…

Alice Beban, "Unwritten Rule: State-Making through Land Reform in Cambodia" (Cornell UP, 2021)

November 15, 2021

Unwritten Rule

Alice Beban
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why do so many Cambodian small landholders live in fear? How did the issuance of official land titles contribute to growing indebtedness in rural area…

Beyond a Shadow: Southeast Asia Transcending US-China Rivalries

October 15, 2021

Beyond a Shadow

Joseph Liow Chin Yong
Hosted by Duncan McCargo

Why do Southeast Asia specialists get tired of explaining that the politics of the region cannot be reduced to a zero-sum game of Chinese-US great pow…