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The Iron Silk Road and the Iron Fist: Making Sense of the Military Coup D'État in Thailand
[journal article]
Abstract In May of 2014, the military of Thailand staged a coup and overthrew the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The political divisions in Thailand, which culminated in the coup, as well as the course of events leading to the coup, are difficult to explain via Thai ... view more
In May of 2014, the military of Thailand staged a coup and overthrew the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The political divisions in Thailand, which culminated in the coup, as well as the course of events leading to the coup, are difficult to explain via Thai domestic policy and the power relations between Thailand’s military, corporate, and civil entities. The divisions can be more clearly revealed when interpreted in the context of the large-scale Chinese project "One Belt, One Road". This ambitious infrastructure project represents an important step in the rise of China to the position of the world’s biggest economic power and - drawing on world-systems theory - to the center of a new long accumulation cycle of the global economy. Against this backdrop, it will be argued that developments in Thailand can be interpreted historically as an example of the upheavals in the periphery of China, the new center. The establishment of an autocratic system is, however, not directly attributable to the influence of China, but results from the interplay of internal factors in Thailand.... view less
Keywords
military; coup d'etat; Thailand; Southeast Asia; world economy; China; political power; infrastructure
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
National Economy
Free Keywords
Belt-and-Road Initiative; High-Speed Train; World-Systems Theory; Political Science; Development Studies; Political Economy; Southeast Asian Studies
Document language
English
Publication Year
2018
Page/Pages
p. 35-52
Journal
ASEAS - Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, 11 (2018) 1
Issue topic
The Political Economy of New Authoritarianism
ISSN
1999-253X
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0