Pages

25 August 2024

Why Thaksin Could Help Hasten a Middle-Class Revolution in Thailand

Jason Johnson

In Thailand’s history, only two large-scale democracy movements were successful in toppling military-led regimes. And significantly, both the 1973 and 1992 pro-democracy movements included widespread support from the Bangkok middle class, which has proven in the past to be a pivotal factor in determining the staying power of royal-military-backed governments and elected governments alike.

In 2020 and 2021, many pro-democracy advocates who desired the removal of the royal-military backed regime of General Prayut Chan-o-cha had become hopeful that democratic change was on the horizon. At the time, Thailand saw an eruption of large student-led protests that took place in the capital Bangkok and many major provincial centers. The protests were catalyzed by a Constitutional Court ruling that disbanded the progressive Future Forward Party, which had come in third in elections held in March 2019, over an alleged campaign financing violation. However, the movement ultimately petered out due in part to security measures and the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in severe restrictions on public gatherings.

Those student-led protests both reflected and prompted a significant shift in Thai political culture. For the first time, younger middle and upper-class Thais all but uniformly opposed the traditional hegemonic political culture centered on the monarchy. There had been previous instances of Thai students opposing military dictatorships, but anti-monarchy political stances had never been so dominant and open among younger generations of Thais, and students had not been at the forefront of change since the 1970s.

No comments:

Post a Comment