Conflict and Elite Formation in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia

The article focuses on a comparative analysis of conflict and elite formation in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia; it argues that societal conflicts in Southeast Asia are grounded in the historical formation of elite social structures within differing sociocultures and that major and long-lasting societal conflicts-both violent and nonviolent-occur in social spaces between 'power elite' groups. Additionally, it shows how up-and-coming elite groups are recruited from the fringes of the old hierarchy, which is why they are-in many respects-social hybrids of old and new sociocultures. Moreover, after those new arrivals were elevated into the 'power elite', the window for upward mobility rapidly re-closed.