Thailand A Struggle for the Nation

“As a historian, Charnvit Kasetsiri is not satisfied simply to have found an instructive angle from which to explore the mysteries in a modern experimental monarchy. His keen sense of time has filled his narrative with insights that only a few people could have identified. To me, that is a mark of one with a fine sense of what the past can mean. I thank him for the chance to see this mature and thoughtful Charnvit at work and commend this book to everyone who wants to understand Thailand better.” -- Wang Gungwu, National University of Singapore “Charnvit makes clear in the final pages of Thailand: A Struggle for the Nation that he is not very sanguine about the country’s future. During Thailand’s democratic spring in 1974, the Thai constitution was changed to allow female succession. This apparent loosening of male prerogative had no effect on the reign change in 2016 when the designated male heir, Prince Vajiralongkorn, succeeded without challenge to become the tenth Bangkok king. Communism, long gone as the spectre that once haunted Thailand’s political order, has been replaced by another. The spectre now haunting Thailand is authoritarianism.” -- Craig J. Reynolds, Australian National University