Dr. Jonathan Bogais is a psycho-sociologist, a strategic analyst and a negotiator. He is a specialist in foreign affairs with over three decades of academic and practical experience working in complex environments. His expertise is in violence, conflict, socio-ethics, information warfare and dynamic modelling. His area of expertise is Southeast Asia. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Good Governance and Policy (CPG), Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, Bangkok, and an Associate Professor (adjunct) in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney. He is the co-founder of the Strategic Assessment Research Network (SARN). He was awarded a Master in Social & Intercultural Psychology in 1978 and a PhD in Sociology in 1984, both from Paris-Sorbonne. He practices from Sydney, Bangkok and Paris.”.
Violence and the Contradictory Coexistence of Peace and Conflict in the Asia Pacific Region
This essay explores the making of a “dominant identity,” a political mechanism that serves only one purpose: maintaining a state’s hegemony. Discussing the current crisis in the South China Sea and reflecting on the 1956 Suez crisis, it explores strategies used by “mighty” states to build coalitions, and asks why some international actors cannot submit to the standard of a peaceful social life they claim to support.
Myanmar: The Transition from Social Control to Social Contract
This essay explores the complexity of the change process to civilianize Myanmar. It demonstrates that the new Myanmar leadership’s intent to enter into a social contract with its citizens requires an analysis of the mechanisms of social control, which is the evolution of the means of power rather than its nature. The essay shows how the model of totalitarian normality has functioned in practice in Myanmar for over five decades marked by ongoing ethnic conflicts, sectarian violence and ruthless repression of civil society.
Democracy Cannot Exist without Social Cohesion: The Myanmar Challenge
By emphasizing uniformity through laws to protect one class of race and religion, Myanmar legislators are advancing a device for oppression. If enacted, the Law on Protection of Race and Religion would not only breach international conventions; it would also preset the conditions for further sectarian violence.
