ABSTRACT
Irrigation has formed a core component of most peninsular Southeast Asian nations’ modern development strategies, with grand plans for irrigation expansion currently proposed to divert water from the mainstream Mekong into Northeast Thailand. This paper proposes the notion of irrigationalism as being a key ideological driver of this form of development that strengthens the interests of a state-allied elite through harnessing the social engineering potential of this “technology of control”. The paper argues that central to the success of this dominant ideology has been parallel state-building projects of naturalising the social order of rule by monarchy and staunchly nationalistic approaches to agriculture and water management.
