When it was published in 2006, at the height of Thaksin’s power, Somchai felt he had to write an epilogue since it appeared that his study had been overtaken by events that seemed to have fundamentally changed Thai politics.
When it was published in 2006, at the height of Thaksin’s power, Somchai felt he had to write an epilogue since it appeared that his study had been overtaken by events that seemed to have fundamentally changed Thai politics. … Only three years after its publication, however, Somchai’s book is again highly topical: street politics has come back to Thailand, the government is facing huge mobilisations and rallies, and much of today’s situation reminds us of the 1990s (which also explains why analysts tend to use the outdated models of that time). Once again, the people of Isan, their political priorities during past elections, and their capacity to mobilise are largely being denounced as anti-democratic, corrupt and a threat to democracy. […] Somchai’s study is an abundant source of very detailed and highly interesting data on social movements in Isan. It is absolutely worth reading, especially against the background of the present discourse in Thai politics … .