Editor's Note

This issue begins with an article by Gregory V. Raymond examining Thailand's response to Soviet-backed Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia from 1979 to 1989. Vietnam's intervention in Cambodia in 1979 had the positive effect of bringing an end to the murderous violence perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge (resulting in the deaths of up to 2 million people), but Vietnam established a brutal occupation regime of its own in Cambodia and fought a devastating war against Khmer Rouge insurgents, who sought to return to power. The presence of Vietnamese forces along Thailand's borders posed an exigent security threat, not least because Vietnamese troops conducted cross-border raids against presumed Khmer Rouge positions, shelled border towns in Thailand, and drove refugees onto Thai territory. Raymond shows that Thai leaders responded to this threat not by significantly beefing up their military forces but by vigorously pursuing diplomacy and coalition-building. He explains this choice as a...