The Bangkok Podcast | Expat Life In Thailand Via Expats From Canada & America

This is part two of a two-part interview with Khun Ployjai Pintobtang, a lecturer in history at Chiang Mai University, about the history of democracy in Thailand and Asia. The discussion picks up where it left off, on the particular characteristics of Thai culture and society that might make it harder for democracy to take root. Greg begins by bringing up Ed’s frequent point that there’s essentially an ‘official’ Thailand, how Thai elites describe their country, that is often at odds with what everyone knows is really happening in the country. Ed furthers the point that almost all Thai elites will give the ‘right answer’: we want ‘real’ democracy in Thailand, but then the very same elites go on to enact anti-democratic Constitutions.  A. Ploy concurs with these assessments and notes the difficulty as a Thai person in remaining optimistic given the apparently cyclical nature of Thai politics, where the government comes close to being truly democratic, only to fall back down into true authoritarianism due some