General Overview

In the mid-1300s, a Thai kingdom was established known as Siam until 1939. Thailand has remained its own unified nation, never colonized by any European nation. The country has had multiple kings who were frequently ousted by the military and placed into exile. In 1932 when a constitutional monarchy was established, prime ministers were elected to preside over the country. Seventeen military coups took place over the next seventy years with new leaders entering and almost immediately leaving office. In 2001, the country’s new prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, formed a coalition government to reduce the separation of party politics in the country.

Thaksin Shinawatra

Socio-economic Populism

Thaksin Shinawatra ran for election in 1998 advocating for poor rural voters promising to alleviate debt on farmers and offering more affordable healthcare. Using his background early on as a cop and later CEO, he promised to be a prime minister that was outside of special interests, sharing distaste in “professional politicians.” By doing so he appealed to rural voters who wanted a strong leader that they viewed to be more of a common man for the people rather than a corrupt politician. He divided Thai society between the underprivileged rural population and the elite aristocracy made up of monarchists and the upper-middle class.

Cultural Populism

In 2003, Thaksin Shinawatra launched a ‘war on drugs,’ focusing on stopping the flow of drug trafficking and the use of drugs. Within the first three months of policy implementation, over 2,800 extrajudicial killings were reported, half of which were arbitrary killings where the individuals killed were not involved in any drug trafficking or drug use. Thaksin essentially blamed drug criminals for the economic woes the country faced after the Asian financial crisis. By making a policy to target drug criminals, he initially won support from both the working and upper-middle class, who hoped to see less violence in their communities. But, by using drug criminals as political scapegoats, he was able to commit atrocious human rights violations, killing and targeting both innocent and guilty individuals for the sake of his campaign and popularity.