When the 19 September 2006 coup happened, Ford Ruangprapaijitseree was in elementary school, and at the time, the coup only meant that he got a day off from school. He writes now that the coup not only revealed how normalised military intervention had become but also set the stage for institutions deliberately designed to weaken civilian authority over the armed forces. Changing this design is now one of Thailand’s most urgent democratic tasks.

The recurring clashes between Thailand and Cambodia are often described as the residue of colonial-era boundary disputes. This explanation, however, obscures the real dynamic: the Thai military’s repeated exploitation of anachronistic disputes to preserve its political dominance.

When ASEAN, led by Malaysia and pressured by Cambodia, pushed to finalize the Terms of Reference (TOR) for establishing a formal ASEAN Observer Team (AOT) to monitor the fragile ceasefire along the Thai-Cambodian border, the government in Bangkok responded with hesitation. Senior officials and military leaders spoke in unison that the Interim Observer Team (IOT), comprising ASEAN military attachés already stationed in Bangkok, was deemed sufficient. No urgent need existed to send real observers from ASEAN capitals. This reluctance illustrates a deeper sovereignty paradox in Thai foreign policy. While Thailand embraces global norms in principle, it consistently resists international participation in matters it regards as domestic.

Following the 1 February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Mae Sot saw an influx of migrants from Myanmar, who came to Thailand fleeing prosecution and violence. Some were professionals - teachers, doctors, and artists. However, writes a Burmese refugee and community organizer in Mae Sot, recent immigration raids and online anti-migrant rhetorics have sowed fear among the community.

Last year, Thailand passed the Marriage Equality Act, which made it the first Southeast Asian country to legalise marriage for all. However, writes political science graduate student and former activist Ford (Tattep) Ruangprapaikitseree, this does not mean it is a free country.

Attending the Taiwan Art Week 2025, writes Chayanin Tiangpitayagorn, revealed a jarring gap between the performing arts scene in Taiwan and Thailand and raising questions about what would really help create an authentic political nature for art.

Over the past three decades, the Pak Mun villagers have protested the Pak Mun Dam. In the past decade, writes Dr Kanokwan Manorom, the movement has become a slow form of civil disobedience—through continued existence, adaptation, and insistence on their way of life under oppressive power structures.

There was a real fear that the insurgency in Thailand’s southernmost border provinces would relive its bloody past where tit-for-tat violence by government forces and rebel combatants turned the conflict into a bloodbath marked by heavy-handed responses and vigilantism. But the second spike of violence came immediately after the shooting death of a very senior member of the National Revolutionary Front of Patani Malay/Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), Abdulroning Lateh, 60, on 18 April.

The Ministry of Justice's Rights and Liberties Protection Department is working on an anti-SLAPP bill, aiming to address judicial harassment in Thailand. But despite the proposed legal protections, writes human rights defender Puttanee Kangkun, the bill fails to decriminalize most forms of defamation, which means that Thailand will continue to fail to uphold its international legal obligations every time a defamation case arises.

On 4 March, Senior General Min Aung Hliang, leader of Myanmar's military junta, met with the Russian President Vladimir Putin during a goodwill visit to Russia. The junta leader not only gifted Putin a book of horoscopes and six elephants but also made a bizarre claim about his past life—that he was a rat king who gave a mushroom to the Buddha. From Min Aung Hlaing’s bizarre beliefs to Donald Trump’s supernatural mandate, absurd claims are shaping public policies—and putting humanity at risk.

After more than four years when the youth of Thailand mobilised to demand political reforms, the youth movement is now confronting structural barriers that threaten to undermine its momentum. If they are to have any chance of sustaining their efforts and effecting meaningful change, writes Asia Centre researcher Ekmongkhon Puridej, they need a sustained commitment to inclusive, intergenerational collaboration, robust external support and the political will that can empower them to continue their fight for a democratic future.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thailand’s youngest prime minister, faces immense political risks as she steps into a role shadowed by her family’s turbulent legacy. Voranai Vanijaka writes that, although Paetongtarn lacks the political experience, she has the family name and the challenge for her would be to prove herself worthy as the prime minister, not her father’s puppet.