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Thailand

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.

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.

National security and “immunising” Thais to political conflict

On the discourse of "immunity" against partisanship and contestation in Thailand’s 2019–22 National Security Policy

Pracharat welfare depoliticises Thailand’s “political peasants”

สวัสดิการประชารัฐกับการเปลี่ยนแปลงความสัมพันธ์รัฐ-ชนบทไทย

Papal visits in Thailand and “foreign religious subversion”

As Pope Francis lands in Thailand, Katewadee Kulabkaew unpacks hardline fears that the Catholic Church is like "a stealthy python" that will swallow Buddhism.

The Thai Constitutional Court’s war on freedom of expression

While the Court has always targeted critics of the regime, it generally spared critics of its own rulings. With the rise of Future Forward Party, that's changed.

“We try to not be Thai”: the everyday resistance of ethnic minorities

How two ethnic minority groups, the Lisu and the Maniq, continue to challenge the Thai state's sovereignty

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?

Scrutinising Thailand’s 2019 annual military reshuffle

The annual military reshuffle shows a military leadership in transition.

Why the ‘Prayuth regime’ will fail to prevail

ทำไมระบอบประยุทธ์ไม่เข้มแข็ง: The "elected" military regime is not popular, nor can it guarantee the support of the armed forces

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

ยุคของ “แดง ปะทะ เหลือง” ในประเทศไทยจบแล้วจริงหรือ?

Disappearing Japan: Vajiravudh’s translations of The Mikado and the Thai elite’s admiration of Japan

On what translation can tell us about Thai society and its perspectives on its regional neighbours.

Buddhism and authority in Thailand in the long run

พระพุทธศาสนาและผู้มีอำนาจไทยในระยะยาว

Lao dissidents exiled under Thailand’s military rule

The activities of Lao dissidents who have fled to Thailand can offer some insight into anti-regime sentiment in Laos.

Thai Civilized: what a minor party tells us about authoritarianism in Thailand

จงสังเกตความโหยหาอำนาจนิยมในสังคมไทย: มงคลกิตติ์เป็น ส.ส. สะท้อนอะไร

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".

VIDEO: Entrenched Illiberalism in Mainland Southeast Asia

Scholars and activists discuss the region's persistent struggles with democracy at a recent ANU conference.

Explaining the surprises and upsets of Thailand’s 2019 election

Kanokrat Lertchoosakul on Pheu Thai's drop in seats, Future Forward's electoral breakthrough and the Democrat decline

Thailand’s tainted Election Commission

At the heart of the controversies over Thailand's 2019 election sits the Election Commission.

Cooptation doesn’t work: how redshirts voted in Isan

The redshirt movement endures at the ballot box.

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.

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

เลือกตั้ง 62: ชนชั้นนำแตกเป็นเสี่ยงและประชานิยมทางการเมือง