A Thai Spring?
The results of Thailand’s recent general election will seem familiar to anyone attuned to the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. As in those countries, new information technology, demographic shifts, rising expectations, and the obsolescence of Cold War exigencies have placed an entrenched regime under unprecedented pressure.
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BANGKOK – The thunderous results of Thailand’s general election on July 3 will seem familiar to anyone attuned to the political upheaval in the Middle East and North Africa. Entrenched incumbent regimes everywhere are under severe stress from advances in information technology, shifts in demographics, rising expectations, and the obsolescence of Cold War exigencies. In the absence of a willingness and ability to use violent repression, regime survival can be achieved only through concessions, accommodation, and periodic reinvention.