Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia, bordered in the North by China, in the East by Indochina, in the South by the Gulf of Thailand and in the West by Kawthoolei, Burma and Jingpo.
History
Siam was the only independent nation in Southeastern Asia when the 20th Century began : the ruling Chakri dynasty, in place since 1782 had undertaken a path of modernization and westernization, taking Japan as model, a policy that was at odds with the absolutist nature of the monarchy, the aristocracy and the rising commoners ; after the Great European War, Siam was all the more caught in the influence struggle between the United Kingdom and Japan ; in 1926, Siam managed to win back their territories taken by Indochina before 1904 and entered an alliance with Japan along with the Co-Prosperity Sphere, but in 1929, Prince Chula Chakrabongse, a mixed-race royal, took power in a coup, becoming King Rama VIII, and agreed to give Northern and Southern Thailand to the British, being integrated into British Bruma and British Malaysia in 1932. The discontent with Rama VIII’s pro-British policies trigerred the outbreak of the Siamese Civil War (1933-1940), putting the royal forces, supported by the British, against the ultranationalist revolt of Prince Boworadej, supported by the Japanese, and a small Republican Army, led by Pridi Banomyong. Boworadej won the conflict and became King Rama IX.
Until his death in 1953, Rama IX embarked in a nationalist and irrendentist course, firmly aligned on Japan, seizing Karenni State in 1943 in exchange for his support of Burmese independentists, Laos in 1945, changing the name of the country to the much more nationalist name of Thailand in 1944 and building the new capital of Nakhonban Pretchabun, in the center of the country, along with the Buddhist holy city of Saraburi. When he aged, a brief democratic period (1948-1951) followed, supported by the British, before a violent coup led by General Phao Siyanon in 1951 firmly returned Thailand to the Japanese sphere, even if the kingdom was now a constitutional monarchy under the pro-Japanese Kityakara branch after 1953.
Thailand was a firm member of the Co-Prosperity Sphere during the Greater Game, modeling itself on Japan and becoming a regional power thanks to its sheer size and its importance in Asian trade, taking part in the South Asian War (1964-1967) ; a military dictatorship in fact, the country grew bigger with the integration of the Shan States (1957), Kachin region (1964), Kedah, Perak, Penang, Perlis, Kelantan and Trengganu (1967). It had to deal with a democrat guerilla led by former Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong (1952-1958) and civil unrest grew bigger during the ultranationalist regime, due to its suppresion of individual liberties and its outspoken support of Japan (1971 students revolt, 1976 peasents’ revolt, Malay guerilla 1977-1991, 1983 protests after Pridi’s death). But the bigger stain in Thailand’s history remains the Lao genocide ; undertaking the colonization of the country during the 1960s, on the same model that Japan had taken in Korea and China, the settlement degenerated into an official massacre policy after the assassination of Prime Minister Praphas Charusathien in 1973, with the royal families of Laos being murdered and ethnic cleansing undertaken in the Lao countryside by the Thai military. The genocide was stopped after the Washington Post provided evidence about the crimes in 1975, but the evil was done and Thailand was now a pariah state outside of the Japanese sphere.
After the Japanese Revolution, Thailand was on the brink of collapse : the Co-Prosperity Sphere, on which the military junta relied for economy, trade, military and cultural support, was in disarray, Malay provinces were now out of control, the democratic opposition was stronger than ever and the young nationalist officers that had taken power in 1981, now led by Prime Minister Maj. Gen. Chamlong Srimuang, were desperate for survival. With support from the new King, Rama XI, the Thai junta decided to react to Viet Nam’s unification with Cambodia by declaring war ; the Hills’ War (1987-1988) turned into a complete quagmire for Thailand, that lost Laos in the process, and a democratic coup attempt the following year turned into a Civil War (1988-1992), that gave way for spontaneous uprisings from the Shans, Karens, Kachins, Malays and Mons. Bangkok finally fell into the hands of the Democrats on 20 May 1992 ; the King, who had thrown his full support behind the military, was forced to flee and, in spite of the Thais’ support for the monarchy of divine right, the Republic was proclaimed, ending centuries of tradition. The first action of new President Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was to grant independence to the former peoples of the Thai Kingdom, forming Arakan, Jingpo, Malaya and the Shan Federation.
Imperovished, devastated by the Civil War, the new Thai Republic was unsteady, integrating itself to the new Pan-Asian Union but staying under international aid, its economy being wrecked by former military officials who turned to drug, human and arms trafficking. After the 1997 famine and the 2004 tsunami, billionaire Sondhi Limthongkul was elected President in 2008 on a nostalgic and nationalist program. The Republic has since returned to a dictatorship, adopting a new Constitution molded for Sondhi and the ex-military junta in 2014, cancelling the 2015 presidential election and maintaining deals with the mob to ensure the regime’s survival. Thailand also adopted a nationalist rhetoric, promising to return the country to the better days, invading and annexing the Shan Federation in 2019 and welcoming back the royal family in 2014.
Political situation
A presidential republic since 1992, with a Constitution inspired by the French Fifth Republic, Thailand adopted a new Constitution in 2014, reducing the legislative power to an unicameral Legislative Assembly, with two thirds elected by popular suffrage and one third designated by the President. In spite of the ethnic patchwork that Thailand is nowadays, the country remains unitary, with all executive and judiciary powers concentrated in the capital city of Nakhonban Pretchabun, built by Japanese engineers in the 1940s under King Rama IX. Nakhonban Pretchabun, after 70 years, remains far less developed than Thailand’s major city, Bangkok, with its vast avenues empty, devoid of electricity for months at some time, being inhabited only by the old Thai bureaucracy, very isolated from the problems of everyday Thailand.
Since 5 October 2008, the President of Thailand has been Sondhi Limthongkul : a former journalist affiliated to the democratic opposition in the 1980s, Sondhi was among the conservatives shocked by the abolition of the monarchy and turned to politics with the Thai Social Democratic Party, a populist, pyrist, traiditionalist party that amalgamated conservatives along with Buddhist zealots, monarchists and former associates of the military regime. A close second in the 2002 and 2007 presidential elections, he was finally elected in 2008, after the 2007 election was cancelled due to suspicions of fraud. Since, Sondhi did everything to destroy Thailand’s nascent democracy, persecuting ethnic and religious minorities, forbidding opposition parties, cancelling the presidential elections scheduled in 2013 and 2015, sending the army to quell the riots in favor of democracy in 2016 and affirming its will of a greater Thailand, with the annexation of the Shan Federation in 2019 that resulted in Thailand getting expelled from the World Council. Along with former military officers and Buddhist dominionists, the Sondhi regime earns his support from the Thai organized crime groups, that control drug, human and arms trafficking in Southeast Asia, as much of them are associated with the former military clique. Some say that Sondhi’s Thailand is close to the days of the monarchy, without the king : many speak of a future royal restoration, as the former royal family, headed by Princess Soamsawali Kityakara, is welcomed in their country since 2014.
Thailand, since the start of the Sondhi presidency, adopted an irrendeitst political agenda, reaffirming their claims on Cambodia, Laos, Arakan, Jingpo and Malaya, with their threats coming into fruition towards the drug-infested Shan Federation. Nevertheless, the country retains excellent business relations with China, Japan and Indochina.
Social situation, population
By changing its name in 1944, Thailand to become a nation-state ; nothing could be more wrong during the peak of the Kingdom of Thailand, as Thais, Karens, Karenni, Rakhines, Lao, Cambodian, Malays, Shan, Chinese and Mons, among others, were united under one flag ; official discourse challenged this view by bestowing the name “Thai” over all Tai-speaking peoples. Ironically due to the current state propaganda, Thailand became much more heterogeneous after the abolition of the monarchy, even if the Shan peoples that returned to Thailand since 2019 are still classified as “Thai” for the government. Other ethnic minorities are persecuted and forcibly assimilated.
Bangkok, thé former capital, remains the most populated and economic center of Thailand ; the foundation of Nakhoban Prechatbun did nothing to stop Bangkok from growing, but the scars of the Civil War remain visible in plain sight and years of corruption and lack of concertation in urbanism led to an anarchic growth in récent Years, kickstarted by rural exodus. The 2011 murderous floods revealed furthermore the darker side of Bangkok.
With 43 million people and counting and one third of the population being under 25, Thai population is among the most blossoming in East Asia, even if it’s also synonymous with a widespread diaspora, propelled by the lack of resources and future in the home country and a population that benefitted from the alphabetization and education grants policies during the military junta era. Much less noticeable than the Chinese diaspora, Thais abroad are noticeable in Indochina as a well wanted skilled workforce, but also in America, China and Europe, where a brain drain phenomenon is heavily noticeable, as Thai universities are considered quite skillful on their own right. Repression of human rights and civil freedoms is quite enforced in Thailand, along with censorship, as was evidenced during the repression of the pro-democracy riots in 2016.
Economy
One of the founding members of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, turning to the Pan-Asian Union after the dissolution, Thailand benefited massively from Japanese investment programs throughout the century, with industrial centers being established in Bangkok and along the Thai-Indochinese border, along with a huge manufacturing sector propelled by Japanese companies ; cars made in Thailand is a common occurrence in Eastern Asia. Nevertheless, since the crumbling of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Civil War, the baht became heavily devaluated and the poverty rate skyrocketed, with millions of Thai falling into poverty : heavily dependent on exportations, the Thai economy still struggles with the devastation of the Civil War and its status as an international pariah following the invasion of the Shan Federation. Blooming during the days of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, Thai infrastructure and education were thrown into disarray by the Civil War, the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and decades of corrupt and ineffective management. Countrywide famines occurred in 1997 and 2011, subjecting Thailand to international humanitarian relief, further proving the disarray of the Thai Republic. Thailand remains a heavily agricultural country and also depends heavily on tourism, here helped by the plentiful cultural heritage of Thailand.
Thailand is however very infamous for the extent of organized crime, whose revenues is considered close to two thirds of the country’s GDP. Building on the Thai diaspora and the country’s location between Indochina, the South China Sea and China, the country became one of the main entry points for heroin and cannabis trafficking, becoming itself a supplier of heroin. Prostitution is also widespread, especially in Bangkok, both as a means of survival for the lower classes and a source of revenues for the Chao Pho (Thai underworld), that also specializes in selling weapons for Indonesia, Indochina and the Burmese states. Once controlled by common criminals, organized crime came under the control of former military officers, disgruntled by the aftermath of Thai Civil War and using their business and military connections to build huge cartels, managing private armies. Once persecuted by the government with US and German support, organized crime is now one of the main supporters of the Sondhi regime, with Chao Pho group helping to secure urban centers during the 2020 coup attempt against the government.
Military
If the army held power in Thailand without interruption from 1951 to 1992 and in spite of its various defeats, the military retains considerable prestige and power in Republican Thailand, with many former military officers turning to politics, conscription being still compulsory, and state propaganda magnifying the invasion and occupation of Shan Federation (2010-2011) as a redemption, a feat worthy of Thaksin the Great. In fact, the Thai military is a den of monarchist and reactionary rival cliques, equipped with outdated Japanese weapons and heavily corrupted, when generals have not gone the way of organized crime. To this day, many military officers suspected of deals with the mob are forbidden from entering American, Chinese or European territory.
Culture
Since the days of Rama IX, Thailand adopted Buddhism as its state religion, with its unofficial holy seat being Saraburi, close to the administrative capital ; the rigorist interpretation of the Buddha’s preachings returned to power along with Sondhi, as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami exposed the darker side of Thailand’s beach resorts, that were known hubs for sex tourism and drug trade ; the Sondhi administration refused to pursue further the rebuild of these towns. Now, the State Sangha is responsible for the maintaining of all temples in Thailand, has a close control over public and private schooling and welfare, a much needed source of help in Thailand, is now allowed only to the followers of the Buddha, owing to years of bad blood against the Muslims after the Malay guerilla : Muslims, Christians and Hindus, who have always been a minority of Thailand, are submitted to forced conversion to Buddhism. In spite of these regulations, however, Thailand still enjoys tourism due to its impressive heritage, with a thriving film industry beginning to export itself.
In sports, if Thailand has still a long way to Go before being a strong soccer, rugby or Olympics contender, thé country tends to be known for Muay Thai, that has begun to inspire fighters worldwide thanks to exported Thai movies ; international boxing authorities tend to regard Muay Thai as a bloodsport unworthy of recognition nevertheless.