Read the full essay here.
About the Author
Scott Christensen is a research associate at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) in Bangkok. A doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he is completing his doctoral dissertation on “State and Society in Thailand: Policymaking and the Politics of Economic Transformation, 1973-1991.” Portions of this article are based on a larger study of Thai democracy supported by TDRI.