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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 18k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex political, social, and economic dynamics in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Thailand and Laos. It delves into topics such as political movements, ethnic identity, democracy, economic development, social resistance, cultural politics, hydropower projects, and borderlands.

  • Thailand
  • Laos
  • Political Movements
  • Ethnic Identity
  • Democracy
  • Economic Development
  • Social Resistance
  • Cultural Politics
  • Hydropower Projects
  • Borderlands
Research works
18k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-2%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

Which countries lead Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies research?

By volume, the United States and India publish the most (560 and 440 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 560 works
  2. 2 India 440 works
  3. 3 Thailand 351 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 258 works
  5. 5 China 187 works
  6. 6 Vietnam 158 works
  7. 7 Indonesia 152 works
  8. 8 Australia 124 works
  9. 9 France 119 works
  10. 10 Japan 110 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 22.8%India: 17.9%Thailand: 14.3%United Kingdom: 10.5%6 others listed: 34.6%23%largest
United States560 · 22.8%India440 · 17.9%Thailand351 · 14.3%United Kingdom258 · 10.5%6 others listed852 · 34.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chulalongkorn University publishes the most Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Thammasat University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chulalongkorn UniversityThailand 51 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 47 works
  3. 3 Thammasat UniversityThailand 47 works
  4. 4 Chiang Mai UniversityThailand 40 works
  5. 5 National University of SingaporeSingapore 33 works
  6. 6 Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityIndia 29 works
  7. 7 Mahidol UniversityThailand 28 works
  8. 8 University of DelhiIndia 26 works
  9. 9 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 25 works
  10. 10 Australian National UniversityAustralia 24 works

Who are the leading researchers in Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies include Christopher D. Manning, Nicholas John White and Jin Li.

  1. 1 Christopher D. Manning United States 179k citations
  2. 2 Nicholas John White Thailand 138k citations
  3. 3 Jin Li China 132k citations
  4. 4 Norman K. Denzin United States 130k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies?

The most cited paper in Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies is "blurred boundaries: the discourse of corruption, the culture of politics, and the imagined state" (Akhil Gupta, 1995), with 2,515 citations. Next come "Resilience: A Bridging Concept or a Dead End?“Reframing” Resilience: Challenges for Planning Theory and PracticeInteracting Traps: Resilience Assessment of a Pasture Management System in Northern AfghanistanUrban Resilience: What Does it Mean in Planning Practice?Resilience as a Useful Concept for Climate Change Adaptation?The Politics of Resilience for Planning: A Cautionary Note" (1,852) and "Resistance and the Problem of Ethnographic Refusal" (1,820).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 blurred boundaries: the discourse of corruption, the culture of politics, and the imagined state Akhil Gupta · American Ethnologist May 1995 2,515
2 Resilience: A Bridging Concept or a Dead End?“Reframing” Resilience: Challenges for Planning Theory and PracticeInteracting Traps: Resilience Assessment of a Pasture Management System in Northern AfghanistanUrban Resilience: What Does it Mean in Planning Practice?Resilience as a Useful Concept for Climate Change Adaptation?The Politics of Resilience for Planning: A Cautionary Note Simin Davoudi, Simin Davoudi, Keith Shaw et al. · Planning Theory & Practice Open access 24 May 2012 1,852
3 Resistance and the Problem of Ethnographic Refusal Sherry B. Ortner · Comparative Studies in Society and History Open access 1995 1,820
4 INDIGENOUS COSMOPOLITICS IN THE ANDES: Conceptual Reflections beyond “Politics” Marisol de la Cadena · Cultural Anthropology Open access 15 Apr 2010 1,787
5 Culture sits in places: reflections on globalism and subaltern strategies of localization Arturo Escobar · Political Geography Feb 2001 1,659
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies research done?

The largest centres of Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies research in 2022-now are Bangkok (Thailand), New Delhi (India), London (United Kingdom) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Chiang Mai, Quezon City and Bangkok.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BangkokThailand 189 works
  2. 2 New DelhiIndia 88 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 74 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 72 works
  5. 5 SingaporeSingapore 58 works
  6. 6 HanoiVietnam 55 works
  7. 7 Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam 54 works
  8. 8 TokyoJapan 52 works
  9. 9 Chiang MaiThailand 49 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 34 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Chiang MaiTH · 48.9 works36×
  2. Quezon CityPH · 21.4 works25×
  3. BangkokTH · 188.5 works24×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies than the world average.

See Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, London School of Economics and Political Science, Chulalongkorn University and Chiang Mai University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 16.12%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →London School of Eco…Australian National …Chiang Mai UniversityChulalongkorn Univer…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 64.732.0%21.9×15 -26.9%
2Chulalongkorn UniversityThailand 63.86.9%40.6×51 +19.6%
3Chiang Mai UniversityThailand 62.913.7%44.4×40 +6.3%
4Australian National UniversityAustralia 62.918.0%16.4×24 -41.3%
5The University of MelbourneAustralia 62.428.6%6.0×20 -32.5%
6National University of SingaporeSingapore 61.514.3%9.5×33 -27.8%
7Thammasat UniversityThailand 60.56.8%90.3×47 +138.0%
8University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 57.712.2%6.0×25 -12.3%
9Mahidol UniversityThailand 54.59.8%20.0×28 +52.6%
10King's College LondonUnited Kingdom 54.518.9%5.0×13 +42.9%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies, country by country

Is Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 2% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.014% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies0.014% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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