Entries
Land of Smiles
This Sunday, March 24th, elections will be held in Thailand for the first time since the military seized power in 2014. The military coup was a result of a political crisis which gripped the country for months, a crisis that has its roots in deep in the polarized center of Thai politics. A fundamental question which hasn’t achieved any real consensus...
Politics of Thai Buddhism
As any Thai school child can tell you, Thai society has three pillars: Nation, Religion, and Monarchy. Despite not being the official religion, around 95% of Thailand is Buddhist. As we’ll explore, Buddhism played a key role in the formation of a Thai national identity. Subsequently, it has historically been a source of moral legitimacy for both the forces in power, as well as inspiration for those dissatisfied with them...
The King's Court
In April 2006, Thailand was at the height of a political crisis that threatened to cleave the country’s increasingly divided polity in two. Acknowledging the seriousness of the situation, Thailand’s late King Bhumibol (1927-2016) gave a speech in which he urged the country’s judiciary to “do their duty”. Facing increased pressure to resolve the political conflict, some consider this the point at which Thailand’s political character became inextricably bound to the inclinations of its courts...