Vol. 26 No. 1 (2026): Journal of East Asia and ASEAN Studies (Vol. 26 No. 1 (2026) January - June)

This issue of the Journal of East Asian and ASEAN Studies is the first to appear under a revised operating model, in which publication fees are now collected in line with the policy of Ramkhamhaeng University. The editorial board is therefore especially grateful to the authors who have embraced this change and continued to entrust the journal with their work, and to the reviewers who gave their time to assess each submission with care and rigor. Every article published here was evaluated by three qualified reviewers drawn from a range of institutions. The eight research articles gathered in this issue span a wide intellectual terrain—from the political economy of urban business, the management of vulnerable populations, and the political communication of a military leader, to the governance of common-pool resources, the implementation of public policy, institutional curriculum development, and the framing of national interest at the border. At first glance, such breadth may seem disparate. On closer reading, however, all eight articles circle two shared sets of questions. The first concerns the stewardship of what belongs to the collective—whether natural resources, the national budget, the welfare of the destitute, or border economic space. The second concerns the making of meaning and authority—through the rhetoric of leaders, and through the way institutions define their identity and design their curricula. Placed side by side in a single issue, these articles do more than sit together as a compilation; they open a cross-disciplinary conversation among political science, public administration, and area studies. The editorial board hopes that the eight articles in this issue will prove valuable to scholars, students, and all those engaged with political science, public administration, and East Asian and ASEAN studies—and that they will serve as a starting point for academic dialogue that grows steadily deeper and broader.