T-1 HE EMERGENCE of regional trading blocs and the proliferation of
international organizations have fueled speculation about the future
of the nation state. Admittedly, legal barriers to capital, goods and
ideas are rapidly breaking down in Asia as elsewhere, but the arrival of the
"borderless world" of transnational production, investment and information
should not obscure the enduring significance of geographical borders, states
and governments in the international system.' The changing patterns of
interaction among Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Laos, suggest claims
that we are witnessing the "deterritorialisation" of international relations
are, to say the least, premature.2 Within the space of two decades, mainland
Southeast Asia passed from being a region characterized by the presence of
fragmented states where governments were challenged from within by
separatist or revolutionary forces, to one where a discernible trend towards
territorial consolidation is emerging. As it seeks to position itself as a regional
commercial hub, Thailand must contend with new political challenges arising
from the expanding territorial reach of state power in Cambodia, Laos and
Burma. One of the many ironies of globalization, the spatial hardening of states,
underlies the tensions and opportunities that shape Thailand's border relations
and its broader economic and political relations with neighbouring countries.3