Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

Thailand has regained relative calm and stability over the past year, following a long period of political turmoil stretching back to 2005.

The government has finally had some breathing space to roll out its Thaksin-inspired consumption-driven policy agenda. Read more…

Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

Barack Obama’s visit to Southeast Asia, which started on Sunday 18 November and is culminating with his attendance at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, underscores America’s stepped-up re-engagement in what is considered China’s backyard.

Under Obama’s watch, the United States has ‘pivoted’ or ‘rebalanced’ its foreign policy intentions and resources toward Asia for the 21st century. Read more…

Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

Aung San Suu Kyi, freshly elected as the leader of the opposition in Myanmar, made a strong start to life in parliament, demonstrating she will not be a pushover.

But at the same time she showed her practical side, not risking derailing her country’s spectacular democratic opening. Read more…

Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

While Thai politics has long been unruly, it has rarely been so unsettled and intractable as in 2011.

Thailand has entered 2012 bruised and battered, even compared to previous bouts of political instability. Read more…

Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

The deadly military skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia are attributable to domestic political dynamics in both countries.

Having claimed more than two dozen lives, scores of injuries and tens of thousands of displaced bystanders in the three months from February 2011, the conflict is rooted in historical enmity and colonial legacy, with adverse repercussions for regionalism in Southeast Asia and implications for international politics. Read more…

Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

In one short week over two long decades, Burma (officially known as Myanmar) has returned to a window of potential political transition not seen since its last elections in 1990 were hijacked by the military. This time, the orchestrated polls on 7 November have overwhelmingly sent military-backed representatives of the Union Solidarity and Development Party to parliament.

On polling day, renewed fighting between the Burmese army and the ethnic minority groups flared up along the Thai-Burmese border. Read more…

Author: Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Chulalongkorn University

The red shirt uprising in Bangkok has brought Thailand’s topsy-turvy politics to a critical juncture as brinksmanship and confrontation intensify. Since early 2009, many tens of thousands of red shirts, nominally under the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) and supportive of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have agitated and mobilised against the coalition government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. After rioting in the streets and retreating in disgrace in April 2009, they regrouped and reclaimed their agenda with street protests in Bangkok in March and April 2010, calling for a dissolution of the lower house and new polls to reboot Thailand’s democratic game.

As the reds ramped up their rhetoric and street demonstrations, their demands for a dissolution of the lower house were set against the defiance and resolve of Prime Minister Abhisit and his patrons and allies. Read more…