“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time” is a quote often attributed to Winston Churchill. Since there is active debate in Thailand about the best form of government for the country, I would like to add information to the debate.

Continue reading Thailand, Democracy and the HDI →

When commenting about the decline in violence in South Thailand recently, someone remarked that there was a link to declining rubber prices. This seemed like an interesting hypothesis so I investigated to see how true this is.

TL;DR: no connection Continue reading Relationship between rubber prices and the South Thailand conflict →

I December 2013 I had written a blog post analyzing a series of surveys conducted at political rallies and it’s implication for Democratic Development in Thailand, stating my concern that a significant part of the PDRC supporters support authoritarian rule and this could lead to a slide in Democracy. With more recent data, post-coup, prospects for democratic consolidation is actually worse than what had been anticipated.

TL;DR: For democracy to survive, 70% of mass public needs to be committed to it. Only 3.10% of Thais are.

Continue reading The inevitable demise of Thai democracy →