Why is the Thai military so deeply embedded in socio-economic development projects, longer after the end of the Cold War? How come serving generals continue to exercise considerable authority over a range of areas that should normally be the domain of civilian governments? What role does the Royal Thai Army play in promoting a range of social organisations that support royalist, conservative political ideologies, while countering progressive and critical voices? And why does this all matter so much for the future of Thai democracy?

The Thai military are armed bureaucrats who do not fight wars. In this important book, Puangthong Pawakapan demonstrates just how deeply the Royal Thai Army is engaged in socio-economic and political activities aimed at mobilizing and manipulating Thai citizens, while subordinating civilian actors and agencies to military control. In recent years, the Cold War-era Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has re-emerged as a powerful force, exerting an extraordinary degree of authority and initiating an alarming range of troubling schemes. Infiltrating Society: The Thai Military’s Internal Security Affairs (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, 2021) is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand some of the darker realities of today’s Thailand.

Author Puangthong Pawakapan, associate professor of international relations at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, discusses her book with Thai politics specialist Duncan McCargo, director of the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. 

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