ABSTRACT
The chapters of this book take an analytical approach to the politics of resourcebased disputes in Southeast Asia. They reveal that an important set of roots underlying the region’s new environmentalism lies in the soil of material struggles over means of livelihood. The studies also indicate the extent to which appropriation of resources by the powerful and wealthy at the expense of the poor and marginalised has led to active responses by and on behalf of such groups. The overriding narrative is thus not merely a story or exposé of injustice heaped upon injustice in an unequal world, but also one of active and positive responses. An important part of the collective response is a complex set of fluid coalitions, emerging social forces built on alliances across classes and nation-states around environment and community resource rights. Both the material and discursive bases for such coalitions form an important part of the case studies presented in the preceding pages.
