New Mandala

In this podcast we revisit Radio UNTAC. The podcast presents the work by the UN-established radio station in Phnom Penh and their role in informing millions of Cambodians en route to casting their ballot in the much-anticipated 1993 election to create a new internationally recognised government.

The Boundary of Our Rights, Radio UNTAC August 1993. សិទ្ធិមានត្រឹមណា by New Mandala

In this podcast episode (in Khmer), we dive deep into archives of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia and its UNTAC Radio with selected key events on the promises and the challenges from the signing of the Paris Peace Agreement on October 23, 1991 to the UNTAC supervised general election in May 1993 and beyond. The episode reflects on the challenges of disarming four well-equipped conflicting military factions, combatting ethnic hate speech and responding to violence against ethnic Vietnamese, the return of Cambodian refugees, the pre-election inflammatory political rhetoric, and failed attempts at secession by CPP officials after electoral defeats.

In this last episode of the second series of Philippines beyond clichés, Associate Professor Nicole Curato talks to sociologist Dr Mary Racelis to unpack the idea that major cities like Manila should be decongested by moving the urban poor out and moving highrise developments and private capital in. Who has the right to live in the city and what role can facilitated community organisation that engages all residents of the city play in determining the shape and life of a the city?

In the penultimate episode of our second series, Dr Nicole Curato of UC's Centre for Participatory Democracy and Global Governance takes a look at a topic very close to her heart, when she talks to Dr Teresa Melgar about participatory governance. While the practice attract cynicism in many quarters, Dr Melgar's comparative sociological research in Porto Alegre in Brazil and Naga in the Philippines has helped to understand how local democracy unfolds in post-authoritarian settings, and the role that  institutionalising participatory processes can play in this.

In this fourth episode from New Mandala's second series of podcasts looking at the Philippines beyond the clichès, Associate Professor Nicole Curato from University of Canberra's Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance sits down with Wataru Kusaka to discuss the widespread notion that populist voters are deluded. Wataru Kusaka's extensive ethnographical work with urban poor communities has helped him develop an empathetic and deep understanding of their motivations. From this experience, Kusaka emphasises the importance of recognising populist voters as concrete individuals, rather than abstract others, in the pursuit of truly deliberative democracy.

Ep3: Tambay by New Mandala