Title: The May 2014 Coup: The Ninth Month in the Ninth Reign
Speakers:
    Prof. Charnvit Kasetsiri, former rector of Thammasat University and Guest Scholar at CSEAS
    Prof. Thongchai Winichakul, CSEAS visiting research scholar from University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Associate Prof. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, CSEAS, Kyoto University
    Assistant Prof. Federico Ferrara, City University of Hong Kong

Date: February 23th (Mon.), 2015, 14:00 – 16:00
Place: Middle size meeting room (Room No. 332), Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University

Abstract:
Thailand’s latest coup was staged on 22 May 2014, overthrowing the elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. In its aftermath, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO)―the governing body of the coup makers―implemented a series of tough measures against the supposed enemies of the military and the monarchy. Martial law was put in place. The new military government under General Prayuth Chan-ocha, the former army chief from the influential Queen’s Guard, has continued to curb freedoms of speech and violate the rights of the people. Meanwhile, it has installed constitutional infrastructure to ensure the political entrenchment of the traditional elites should the Prayuth government be forced to abruptly step down. The military regime also appointed its own cronies in various committees to oversee constitutional drafting and political reform. The cabinet is replete with pro-junta, anti-Shinawatra figures. Prayuth has attempted to achieve legitimacy from the Thai public with populist projects and from neighbouring countries by offering special incentives for fresh
investments. It seems that the military government is here to stay, and during which time, the royal succession is surely approaching.

This seminar brings together scholars of Thai politics from four countries: Japan, Thailand, the United States and Hong Kong (PRC). It aims at analysing and evaluating the Thai political landscape in the past nine months after the coup. Charnvit Kasetsiri, former rector of Thammasat University and currently senior fellow at CSEAS, will focus mainly on the royal transition from a comparative point of view: comparing the Chulalongkorn with Bhumibol reigns. Thongchai Winichakul(Wisconsin-Madison University), also currently a senior fellow at CSEAS, will elaborate on four perspectives of the 2014 coup: the struggles for
democracy VS military dictatorship; the conflict between the changing political demography VS the encumbering political system; the ongoing democratisation since 1932 VS the monarchist political rule; and the coup for royal succession. Federico Ferrara (City University of Hong Kong) will discuss the longstanding tendency of Thailand’s royalist establishment to rely on the methods of organized crime to stretch the limits of its cultural hegemony, reflecting on the connection between the decline of the country’s royalist order and the increasingly desperate, extreme measures taken since 2006 to subvert or suspend electoral democracy. Lastly, Pavin Chachavalpongpun (CSEAS) will offer his analysis on the implications of the coup on foreign affairs. Facing with international sanctions, the military government has attempted desperately to diversify its foreign policy options in order to alleviate the intensity of outside pressure. In the post-coup period, therefore, one withnesses the strengthening of Thai relations with its neighbouring countries, ranging from China, Myanmar to Cambodia, while its ties with Western nations have become less significant.

Moderator: Pavin Chachavalpongpun, CSEAS, Kyoto University