27 SEPTEMBER 2011. Here is an extended version of the paper I presented on September 19, 2011 at the conference on "Five Years after the Military Coup: Thailand's Political Developments since Thaksin's Downfall," at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore. The paper is entitled "L'état, ce n'est plus moi: Popular Sovereignty and Citizenship over a Century of Thai Political Development" (UPDATE: Now published as Southeast Asia Research Centre Working Papers Series, No 110).

UPDATE: See here for a German translation of the paper (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5).

เทวาสายัณห์ (Download pdf)
8 JUNE 2011. "เทวาสายัณห์: มรณกรรมของประชาธิปไตยแบบไทย" (ซึ่งแปลจาก Thailand Unhinged: The Death of Thai-Style Democracy) เป็นหนังสือที่วิพากษ์การเมืองและความเป็นไปในสังคมไทยอย่างถึงแก่น โดย เฉพาะ ในช่วงที่เมืองไทยตกอยู่ในภาวะวุ่นวาย หลังจากการรัฐประหารขับไล่ อดีต นายกรัฐมนตรี ทักษิณ ชินวัตร ผู้เขียนมองว่าวิกฤตการณ์การเมือง ไทยที่เป็นมาอย่างต่อเนื่อง สามารถอธิบายได้จากการศึกษาประวัติศาสตร์ การเมืองไทยในช่วงเวลาหลังจากระบอบสมบูรณาญาสิทธิราชย์... MORE>>

THAILAND UNHINGED 2.0
6 MARCH 2011. I am happy to announce the publication of a new edition of the book Thailand Unhinged, which was first released around this time last year. Below is a preview of the new Foreword, detailing the changes that were made for the purposes of this new edition. In a nutshell, the changes can be summarized in three words: un(self)censored, expanded, and revised. Because I imagine that those most interested in this new edition... MORE>>

THE LEGEND OF KING PRAJADHIPOK
24 OCTOBER 2010. This is a 12,000 word piece entitled "The Legend of King Prajadhipok: Tall Tales and Stubborn Facts on the Seventh Reign in Siam." While the paper focuses, for the most part, on the time period comprised between the coup on June 24, 1932 and King Prajadhipok's abdication on March 2, 1935, both the intro and conclusion draw rather explicit parallels with the sorry state in which democracy finds itself in present-day Thailand.
UPDATE: Now published in the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 43(1): 4-31.

INTERMISSION
22 MAY 2010. The word had gotten out early that morning. Having spent nearly a month hunkered down at the 11th Regiment, protected by layers of razor wire and thousands of soldiers, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had taken enough humiliation. Assembled at two symbolically charged locations in downtown Bangkok—at Saphan Phan Fa and at the Rajprasong intersection, surrounded by some of the world's most dazzling shopping malls—the Red Shirts... MORE>>

THAI-STYLE "DEMOCRACY," 1958-2010
23 MARCH 2010. Last month I had the honor of being invited by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand to participate in a panel discussion with former cabinet minister Suranand Vejjajiva and acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. The subject was "Tanks, Thaksin and $2 Billion." On the day of the event, I was informed by the organizers that Dr. Panitan had requested (and had, of course, obtained) to appear solo for the first... MORE>>

THAILAND FOR SALE
2 OCTOBER 2009. "Thailand for Sale" looks at the reality of prostitution in Thailand as exemplary of the attempts made by the Thai state since the late 1950s to preserve existing social hierarchies. The essay examines not only the incentive structure leading young provincial women by the tens of thousands to enter the sex trade, but also the hypocrisy of the authorities and the ambivalence exhibited by much of the educate(d) public.

TWILIGHT OF THE IDOLS
14 APRIL 2009. In the end, they just packed their bags and left. Clutching water bottles, walking slowly towards the buses aboard which they would begin the journey home, the red shirts streaming out of the besieged Government House looked more like a football team's vanquished supporters than revolutionaries forced to surrender by a violent government crackdown. Dejected and emotionally spent, to be sure, but still walking away... MORE>>