Message from RCMessage from RCSDChayan Vaddhanaphuti, Ph.DRCSD DirectorRCSD was conceived as and still is a small learning center which aims to explore and understand the changesoccurring as part of the process of regional integration within the Mekong sub-region, changes whichhave a signicant impact upon the livelihoods of local people. RCSD believes in the vital role of knowledgeproduction with regard to sustainable development issues, a process within which people should be the focus.It sees itself as a center helping to generate the knowledge needed to unravel the power relations that underpinregional development, and how people can negotiate within these relations. In my view, RCSD’s strength lieslargely in the strong commitment of our colleagues from the different social science disciplines at Chiang MaiUniversity, who continue to develop a critical approach towards understanding the complexities of developmentand its associated changes. As a result of this, over the last ten years RCSD has provided an excellent opportunityfor graduate students and researchers from the sub-region to interact with our faculty and to understand how thelivelihoods of people in the region have been shaped by the process of regional integration, and also how theyhave coped with these changes.We are proud to have attracted many highly competent students from inside and outside the region to study atour center, where we assist them in learning social science concepts and methodology. Over the years, our studentshave produced academic work of the highest quality, often receiving compliments from international scholars, andtheir work, based upon diligent eld data collection, has reected their serious efforts to analytically understandthe problems faced by peoples in the region, contributing signicantly to the body of knowledge on the situation inthis area. Our success has been largely achieved through the devotion of our faculty, from cooperation among thestudents themselves, and with the help of many others who have supported RCSD in a variety of ways.During the early years at RCSD, we saw state policies on resource management and the way they impact upon theenvironment and the social life of local people, as one of the most important problems in the region. However,as we moved onward, other issues, such as transnational migration, border trade, agricultural transformation andlivelihood strategies among others, were then highlighted by our students’ empirical studies. These new issues haveinformed us of the necessity to re-think the concepts and methodology we use in our teaching. One of the strengthsof RCSD has lay in its attempt to learn more about the dynamic relationship that exists between theory and whathappens in the real, empirical world.In the years to come, RCSD intends to provide an even higher quality of education for its graduate students,co-develop a new international undergraduate program, and strengthen collaboration with universities andresearch institutes inside and outside the region. During 2009 we launched a collaborative InternationalDevelopment Studies Program at the National University of Laos, a project which demonstrates our commitmenttowards collaborating within the region over the next ve years. Aside from this project, RCSD will continue to placea high value on collaboration with international scholars and researchers, as at RCSD, we see ourselves as a locationwhere a range of scholars can meet and learn from each other. With this mission in mind, we hope to generate aneven greater level of knowledge, one that will help us to better understand the transition process taking place inthe region, and to generate enough space for the voices of local people to be heard.