ARTICLE IN PRESS JID: AJSS [m5GeSdc;September 6, 2022;16:41] Asian Journal of Social Science xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Asian Journal of Social Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ajss A Review of Political Violence in Southeast Asia since 1945: Case Studies from Six Countries, Eve Monique Zucker and Ben Kiernan (eds.), 2021, London: Routledge Political Violence in Southeast Asia since 1945, edited by Eve Monique Zucker and Ben Kiernan, is a valuable edited volume for scholars en- gaged in Southeast Asia from any number of disciplines in the Humani- ties and Social Sciences. Developed out of a 2018 conference at Yale Uni- versity, this book, split into six thematic parts, is a thoughtfully curated collection of pieces focused on Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Philip- pines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. By dividing the chapters thematically rather than by these six countries covered by individual chapters, the editors draw attention to the utility of thinking across contexts for re- gional scholars. In doing so, the timeliness and larger implications of this content are brought to the fore. The introduction situates this collection within Southeast Asian Stud- ies providing a broad overview of the history of political violence in the region since 1945 and unpacks some of the themes cutting across the six sections. Minorities and statelessness, rupture and uncertainty, and the political imagination are just a few of these themes. According to Kiernan and Zucker, this volume is not a survey of political violence in Southeast Asia, but rather it seeks to illuminate features of violence and shed light on events not studied. Each chapter not only provides de- tailed accounts of these specific cases, but presents them in a way that is globally relevant. The six parts of this volume, ranging from two to four chapters per part, are titled: Dimensions of Mass Violence; Politics of Fear; Minorities and the State; Technologies, Techniques and Ideolo- gies; Justice, Ethics and History; and Shadow of the Past on the Present. The book begins with an exploration of the concept of mass vio- lence in two different cases in Dimensions of Mass Violence. In each of these chapters, violence against particular groups is not shaped in isola- tion, but in relation to other colonial and international actors. Geoffrey Robinson’s analysis of anticommunist violence in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966 speaks to the wider significance of variegation in cases of mass violence, not only to patterns of violence in Indonesia but to under- standing mass violence even in the most centralized and authoritarian of contexts. The second chapter, written by Elliott Prasse-Freeman and Andrew Ong, also presents a powerful and nuanced take on the concept of mass violence through the case of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar by unpacking the history and relationship of minority identity relative to the state more broadly. Part Two, the Politics of Fear, consists of three cases that contemplate the relationship between nationalism and violence in the Philippines, Cambodia, and Myanmar. In each of these cases, a special focus is given to the roles of order and disorder in shap- ing the relationship between the powerful and powerless. Minorities and the State, the third part of this volume, consists of three, largely his- torical chapters. Topics explored include the battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam, the persecution of Vietnamese minorities in Cambodia, and the historical background surrounding the genocide of Rohingyas in Burma. Those who’s academic and teaching interests exist at the nexus of practice and theory will likely find that some of the most striking con- tributions are found in the second half of this volume. Part four, Tech- nologies Techniques and Ideologies, presents two important case studies that speak to growing bodies of scholarship pertaining to the history of science and actor network theory. On the one hand, chapter ten pro- vides chilling details of the S-21 compound in Phenom Penh, the center of Khmer Rouge medical experiments. On the other hand, I appreci- ated Sophie Quinn-Judge’s contextualization of US airstrikes during the Second Indochina War within global history as well as relative to con- temporary debates surrounding drone warfare. The following section, Justice, Ethics and History, presents four compelling chapters that ex- plore the legal dimensions surrounding violence. With a range of topics covered from the regional politics of ASEAN and globally relevant topics like legal “intent” to the intricacies of policies specific to Thailand and Myanmar, these chapters are valuable contributions to policy makers as well as academics. Part VI concludes this volume with three authors who examine the relationship between violent events of the past and present of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The content of these final chapters connects with many of the topics covered in the first five parts, but with a focus on contemporary political violence and issues of globalization. While I praise the editors of this volume for shaping these chap- ters around six different themes rather than the contexts focused on in each chapter, I was hoping that these themes would have been further unpacked within an introduction to each of the six parts. Further in- corporating the categories into the six sections may have helped push the content of each of these chapters to move beyond foundational ap- proaches in Southeast Asian Studies that are rooted in the concept of the nation and region itself. As a scholar currently focused on Thailand, but looking to ex- pand my own knowledge of the region and craft courses in Southeast Asian Studies and Global History, this volume holds great value to me. Tyrell Haberkorn’s chapter on the justice system as well as Puangthong Pawakapan’s piece that unpacks the past and present of state-sponsored right-wing groups are two contributions that I will reference for my own work on urban politics in Thailand. However, I also appreciated the range of content included in this book and the editor’s focus on features of violence and events not often studied. Scholars investigating larger themes that transcend the boundaries of nation-states and Southeast Asia – as pertaining to the legal dynamics surrounding human rights, the tangible and intangible violence that has resulted from colonialism, the persecution of minorities, memory studies and the history of science amongst many others – will find this volume a useful reference. This range of topics and contexts covered by these authors makes this book an important reference for instructors from political science to history seeking to shape syllabi that are global in scope or specific to Southeast Asia. Trude Laura Renwick, PhD ∗ Postdoctoral Fellow Society of Fellows in the Humanities at the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China ∗ Corresponding authors at: 609 Ashbury Street Apt 12 San Francisco, CA 94117. E-mail addresses: trenwick@hku.hk, trude.renwick@gmail.com Available online xxx https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajss.2022.08.005 1568-4849/© 2022 Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.