Ken | Mathis Lohatepanont

Blog

  • ISEAS Perspective: Causes and Effects of Pheu Thai’s Grand Compromise

    Dr. Napon Jatusripitak and I wrote an ISEAS Perspective on the causes and effects of Pheu Thai’s “grand compromise” with the conservative parties. We also created a system to classify Thailand’s political parties. Executive Summary: Click here to read the piece.

  • The Next Senate Will Be Very Different

    Three major cases went before the Constitutional Court last week. Of the most anticipated cases — the potential dissolution of the Move Forward Party and ouster of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin — we received word that the court will need more time for deliberation next month.  The Constitutional Court did make one major ruling, however,…

  • Suthichai Live English: What if the Move Forward Party Was Dissolved? (Part 2)

    I was on Khun Suthichai Yoon’s English show to discuss uncertain times ahead in Thai politics: Move Forward’s potential dissolution, potential threats to Thaksin Shinwatra and Srettha Thavisin, and the triangular dynamics that currently underpin Thailand’s political landscape.

  • The Politics of the Bangkok Banner

    Being the Governor of Bangkok and pleasing everyone is an impossible task. Being a designer and pleasing everyone is an impossible task. Put the two together, and one wonders whether or not there is a mathematical equation to multiply impossible with impossible. For years, looking up from the skywalk near Pathumwan intersection, you would see…

  • Thailand’s “New Conservatives”

    In late December, a prominent young member of the United Thai Nation Party, Shinapat Kitlertsirivatana, sent in a fiery resignation letter to the party. “The United Thai Nation Party cannot change this country if it will not change its internal working processes,” he declared. “I’m clear that the monarchy must remain. But conservatives need to…

  • Teaching Discussion Sections in Area Studies

    This past year, I had the opportunity to serve as the Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) — the University of Michigan’s equivalent to a Teaching Assistant — for two political science courses. In the fall, I taught Southeast Asian Politics with Prof. Allen Hicken and Chinese Politics with Prof. Mary Gallagher in the winter. It was…

  • Analyzing the Cabinet’s High-Profile Departures

    Despite campaigning last year on being able to “think big and deliver,” the Pheu Thai government has recently found itself struggling to deliver on one of the most basic tasks of maintaining a government: producing a cabinet of ministers. What was supposed to be a routine reshuffle, the normal adjustment of ministerial portfolios that every…

  • American Fried Rice: a Thai Dish You Can’t Find in America

    In Thailand, there is a pantheon of food with foreign-sounding names that have nothing to do with their supposed countries of origin. We have, for one, the Kanom Tokyo, a folded crepe that few Japanese would be able to identify. Or take the Lod Chong Singapore, another dessert that would mystify Singaporeans.  One that I…

  • Suthichai Live English: What if the Move Forward Party Was Dissolved?

    I went on Khun Suthichai Yoon’s new English show to discuss the current Thai political landscape. We had a great discussion on the Move Forward Party’s impending dissolution, PM Srettha’s record so far, and Thailand’s “COO-State.”

  • Thailand’s COO-State

    Decades ago, Thaksin Shinawatra liked to talk about his vision of Thailand as a CEO-state. “A company is a country, a country is a company,” he said in 1997. As As Pasuk Pongpaichit and Chris Baker described it, he “claimed the methods of business management were superior to the traditional practice of bureaucracy or government.…