Thailand: Contestation, Polarization, and Democratic Regression [Paperback]

This Element analyses elite political dominance and civil society resilience in Thailand's democratic struggle from the Cold War to today.This Element aims to provide an overview of Thai politics with an up-to-date discussion of the characteristics of political regimes, political economy, and identity and mobilization that are grounded in historical analysis stretching back to the formation of the modern nation state.This Element aims to provide an overview of Thai politics with an up-to-date discussion of the characteristics of political regimes, political economy, and identity and mobilization that are grounded in historical analysis stretching back to the formation of the modern nation state.This Element aims to provide an overview of Thai politics with an up-to-date discussion of the characteristics of political regimes, political economy, and identity and mobilization that are grounded in historical analysis stretching back to the formation of the modern nation state. The thematic topics will focus on a) the chronic instability and ever-changing nature of political regimes resulting in the failure of democratic consolidation, b) the nexus of business and politics sustained by a patrimonial state structure, patronage politics and political corruption, and c) the contestation of identity and the causes and consequences of mass mobilization in the civic space and street politics.Introduction; 1. Consolidation, contestation, and cooptation: royal-military alliance and its opposition; 2. Economic crisis, national political restructuring, and local power reordering (19972006); 3. Political crisis: polarization, inequality, and violence (20062014); 4. Struggle for (new) political order (2014present); 5. Conclusion.This book offers a thought-provoking explanation of the dynamics of Thai politics at the national level. It invites both scholars and general readers to contemplate the future of military coups, military-backed constitutions and competing ideologies in tl£§