Thai politics in the 21st century: Thaksin's true legacy and its mechanism of conflict

Abstract

The current problem facing Thailand is the inability of the country to move beyond

conflict due to the paralysing of state apparatus. This paper argues that the root cause

of this problem is the legacy of the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in

which he raised class divisions between the elites/middle class and the grassroots to

new levels of antagonism while placing himself at the center of that conflict.

Significantly, despite being in exile, Thaksin remains the divisive figure influencing

the now polarized Thailand, and Thailand's path forward will unavoidably depend on

this legacy in the future.

Keywords: Thaksin, Populism, class division, antagonism, divisive, Thailand,

legacy, popularity, paralyzed, chaos, elites, grassroots