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  • What Real Royalists Shouldn’t Do 

    Walter Bagehot, in The English Constitution, described two elements of constitutional monarchy. First, he wrote, is the ‘dignified’ branch of government, “those which excite and preserve the reverence of the population.” The second branch is the ‘efficient’ branch of government, “those by which, in fact, works and rules.” The British monarchy is the core element of…

  • The Baan Yai: Is All Politics Local?

    The Chart Thai Pattana Party has an illustrious history. It claims descent from the now-deceased Chart Thai Party, which propelled two leaders to the prime ministership: Chatichai Choonhavan, in 1988, and Banharn Silpa-archa, in 1995. In its last years it is the latter figure that the party came to be identified with. Banharn, whose grip…

  • The Reinvention of General Prawit

    Imagine, for a moment, that you are a PR consultant for General Prawit Wongsuwan: the deputy prime minister of Thailand and leader of the Palang Pracharath Party. You are tasked with repackaging the deputy prime minister into an appealing product for the upcoming general election.  Your first instinct is probably: that sounds like an immensely difficult…

  • A Shadow Looms Large over the Pheu Thai Party

    “It is a kindness,” the Roman poet Ovid once wrote, “that the mind can go where it wishes.” Exiled from Italy to a port city on the black sea, the deeply homesick poet wrote a series of letters lamenting his fate to his friends.  Thaksin Shinawatra, in his self-imposed exile of many years, does not…

  • The United Thai Nation Party’s Radical Conservatism

    “What is an ideology?” This was a question that Dr. Trairong Suwankiri, a former deputy prime minister, rhetorically posed to the audience at the United Thai Nation Party event earlier this month where Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was unveiled as the party’s standard-bearer. “An ideology,” he explained, “is the general direction a political party wants…

  • Is the Democrat Party Facing Extinction?

    In December, the Democrat Party revealed that it had set up banners of Jurin Laksanawisit, the leader of the party and the deputy prime minister, alongside Chuan Leekpai, the house speaker and a party stalwart, wishing the people a happy new year in every province. Banners for new year’s greetings are a staple of every…

  • Reflections on 2022

    There was a time many years ago when blogging was the fashionable thing to do and the “blogosphere” was still a term that people used. Perhaps simply by mentioning such a time I run a considerable risk of confusing any younger readers — or indeed any of my non-writer friends — for whom the period…

  • Prayut’s Cabinet of Rivals Imperils Prospects of a Third Term

    The past week, the outspoken conservative academic Seri Wongmontha, wrote a Facebook post on how he had once predicted that several MPs will resign from parliament in order to join a new party near the end of the term. He had been proven right, he noted, given that 31 MPs have just quit their posts.…

  • NIDA Polls Paint a Complicated Picture for Prayut’s Future

    After the 2014 coup, the then leader of the coup, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, came to power insisting that he had never wanted the post of premier for himself. “I didn’t want to be prime minister. It’s not cool. It’s tiring,” he said in a press conference shortly after the start of his tenure. That was…

  • Takeaways from the CCP’s 20th Party Congress

    Thailand would need to adapt its geopolitical game and its economic revival plans after the conclusion of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s 20th National Congress, whereas widely expected, President Xi Jinping secured a 3rd term as the CCP’s general secretary. Given its opaque politics, the party congress, which happens once every 5-years, provides an important window into…