Thai politics in the 21st century: Thaksin's true legacy and its mechanism of conflict

• Main Author: Surachana Thanapratpruang
• Other Authors: Farish A Noor
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::International business::Asia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65186
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The current problem facing Thailand is the inability of the country to move beyond conflict due to the paralysing of state apparatus. This paper argues that the root cause of this problem is the legacy of the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in which he raised class divisions between the elites/middle class and the grassroots to new levels of antagonism while placing himself at the center of that conflict. Significantly, despite being in exile, Thaksin remains the divisive figure influencing the now polarized Thailand, and Thailand's path forward will unavoidably depend on this legacy in the future. Keywords: Thaksin, Populism, class division, antagonism, divisive, Thailand, legacy, popularity, paralyzed, chaos, elites, grassroots