Author: Pisit Leeahtam, Chiang Mai University

After facing two violent street protests in the last two years, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s coalition government started 2011 in relative calm.

The then-opposition Pheu Thai Party was without a visible leader, and many saw the red shirts as still suffering from the May 2010 violence and thus unlikely to stage another street protest. Read more…

Author: Pisit Leeahtam, Chiang Mai University

Since the 2006 coup, which ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, there have been two general elections in Thailand.

Both these elections — in 2007 and 2011 — saw successor parties allied with Thaksin win more seats than any other party, all while Thaksin himself was in exile. Read more…

Authors: Pisit Leeahtam & Cynn Treesraptanagul, Chiang Mai University

Like many other countries, food and commodity price hikes challenge the current Thai government’s stability, especially in the wake of political turmoil in the Middle East and massive natural disasters throughout many regions of the world.

Amid this, a big question on how effectively the Thai government can cope with the deteriorating situation remains. Read more…

Special Author: Pisit Leeahtam, Chiang Mai University, Thailand

Despite the initial optimism with the return to democracy, 2008 was a year of political instability and internal conflict for Thailand. Former PM Thaksin, who remained abroad after the coup d’etat, returned as his political party won the election. But he and his wife fled again to escape the court processes on his corruption charges. There has been an amazing series of events, including civil disobedience against the government, dissolution of political parties, the dissolution of the ruling People Power Party, the barring of two Prime Ministers from holding office and the closure of two international airports in Bangkok.

The two main actors in these developments are the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the United Front Against Dictatorship (UDD). The PAD (in the yellow shirts) is comprised of middleclass citizens, urban elites, academics, state union leaders and a broader coalition of those against Thaksin. The UDD (in the red shirts) comprises lower income earners, taxi drivers, the rural population in Northeast Thailand, and Thaksin supporters. The PAD and yellow shirts movement started in 2005 when Thaksin sold his shares in Shin Corporation to Temasek without paying taxes. The anti-Thaksin demonstrations ended then when the military stepped in September 2006 and installed a caretaker government. The caretaker government established a special investigation into corruption cases against the former PM Thaksin and his wife, which bought open over 13 charges of corruption against Thaksin.

Read more…