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2019 ELECTIONS #เลือกตั้ง62

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Anakot Mai: ‘lawfare’ and Future Forward Party’s legacy

Future Forward successfully convinced younger Thais to give democracy another try, argues Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang.

Thailand’s previously apolitical join the Run Against Dictatorship

Previously politically disengaged members of the population are joining organised political activity alongside older red shirt activist groups.

Defections to expulsions: Future Forward Party’s internal turmoil

"Very few MP candidates actually call themselves “true believers” in the Future Forward ideology."

Pheu Thai won the Facebook Election in Thailand

Online, it was the least active party which proved the most popular during the 2019 Thai election, meaning supporters mobilised with little direction from above.

Why Thailand’s generals fail to co-opt elections

History and electoral reality suggest that the 2019 elections will deliver another “wasted coup”.

What if Thailand’s junta can’t control the military?

General Prayuth may lead a government after elections this month, but his authority within the armed forces has long been waning.

Palang Pracharat Party: can old tricks win in a new political landscape?

พรรคพลังประชารัฐ: การเมืองเก่าภายใต้ภูมิทัศน์ใหม่

Q&A: Supalak Ganjanakhundee on Thailand’s week of chaos

The editor of "The Nation" talks to New Mandala.

Thailand’s first elections in the post-Bhumibol era

On the prospects for a durable authoritarian politics after the 'Bhumibol Consensus'.

Ungoogleable questions about Thailand’s elections, with Tewarit Maneechai

Understanding Thailand's elections may require looking beyond national politics.

Cooptation doesn’t work: how redshirts voted in Isan

The redshirt movement endures at the ballot box.

A rebuke against a sister and the personalising of monarchical control

Paul Chambers on King Vajiralongkorn's expanding control over state forces

Elite realignment, a populist moment: reflections on Thailand’s 2019 general elections

เลือกตั้ง 62: ชนชั้นนำแตกเป็นเสี่ยงและประชานิยมทางการเมือง

A conversation with Thanathorn, Future Forward Party founder

Thanathorn has made clear that the Future Forward Party has no intentions of being a Pheu Thai shadow.

Thailand’s first elections in the post-Bhumibol era

On the prospects for a durable authoritarian politics after the 'Bhumibol Consensus'.

PARTIES, COURTS AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS

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The partisan history of police power in Thailand

Paul Chambers looks back at the politicisation of the Royal Thai Police, before turning to the palace's recent personalisation of authority over an institution often overshadowed by the military.

A volunteer cleaning effort on Queen Sirikit's birthday in 2019 (not part of the Volunteer Spirit 904 initiative)

Cascading royal-nationalism: Bangkok’s “Volunteer Spirit 904” bootcamps

Around 3,000 public servants have volunteered to attend intensive “boot camps” at a military base in Bangkok.

Co-optation in Thailand’s 2019 election

In the 2019 election, a sizeable portion of the military proxy party’s electoral candidates were “pulled” (phalang dud) from other parties.

What’s the role of a Constitutional Court in a military dictatorship? On the dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart

In Thailand, the function of the constitution is not to limit the power of the king, but to reflect the king’s will.

Scrutinising Thailand’s 2019 annual military reshuffle

The annual military reshuffle shows a military leadership in transition.

RESISTANCE AND MOVEMENTS

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The desecration of corpses on 6 October 1976: who, how and why

Why did the perpetrators treat the bodies of the deceased so savagely—in public before thousands of eyes?

Internet providers are helping the Thai government track down dissidents

Thai laws oblige ISPs to relinquish identifying data to authorities during criminal investigations.

Is the era of “Red versus Yellow” over in Thailand?

ยุคของ “แดง ปะทะ เหลือง” ในประเทศไทยจบแล้วจริงหรือ?

The Patani Panopticon: biometrics in Thailand’s deep south

The collection of facial recognition data to identify separatist insurgents in the deep south will only feed distrust towards the Thai state.

The Royalists Marketplace: the supply and demand for dissent in Thailand

The Facebook group "Royalists Marketplace", a platform for discussion on all things monarchy, is a microcosm of burgeoning criticism against Thailand's new king.

Thailand Unsettled #3: Political Deadlock (with Jatuporn Prompan and Suriyasai Katasila)

Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan and former yellow-shirt leader Suriyasai Katasila agree—pessimistically—that Thailand's coming elections are merely one stage in a cycle of political instability.

ART AND CULTURE

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A historical ‘record’ of Thai elections

During the 1960–70s, Thai government agencies distributed vinyl records to raise awareness of elections. As historical documents, they offer insight into the country's turbulent political history.

Live and die with dignity: a publisher vs. a kingdom

Amid assassinations and forced disappearances of Thai dissidents abroad, a dissident publisher reflects on what it means to “survive” under “Democracy with the King as the Head of State".

Film Review: Ten Years Thailand

What bleak stories can be told about what Thailand will be like in a decade, when Thais have already lived under nearly five years of military rule? The film Ten Years Thailand grapples with that very question.

Thai political rap before it went viral

The young rappers who shot to national attention when they released Prathet Ku Mi honed their skills in a vibrant Thai indie rap scene that has been growing bigger in recent years—and growing more political, too.

Lost in literature: why we need to stop the quest for Suvarnabhumi [Part 1]

The idea of finding the El Dorado of Asia is a continuing obsession.

How Christianity consolidated royalist, Buddhist “Thainess”

What do the late King Bhumibol and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have in common? They're both alumni of Catholic private schools.

Moral economies: the politics of donation in Thailand under COVID-19

During the pandemic, “immodest” or ungrateful receiving by the poor has been strongly denounced both by the state and middle-class donors.

Thailand’s sangha: turning right, coming full circle

Thailand’s military government has passed an amendment to the Sangha Act that places the power to appoint and remove the twenty members of the Sangha Council, the highest governing body in the Thai Buddhist order, under the king’s power.