Generation Thailand

 

Generation Thailand: How Generational Contestation Frames Thai Politics is a research project funded by Nanyang Technological University.

Generation Thailand uses the theme of generational contestation to analyze the core cleavages underpinning the politics and society of contemporary Thailand. Viewing the student-led protests that began in 2020 as a pivotal moment of change, Generation Thailand will situate those developments in the context of earlier waves of challenge to the status quo: the radical demands of the 1970s (culminating in the 1976 crackdown at Thammasat University), and the reformist project of the 1990s (culminating in the landmark 1997 constitution).

Drawing on extensive interviews and Thai language sources, Generation Thailand will result in a book that foregrounds the stories of individual Thais, some well-known, others not. Other outcomes of Generation Thailand will include several academic articles, a series of op-ed pieces, and a podcast channel hosted by the New Books Network. Generation Thailand will contribute substantially to current debates on the nature of Thailand’s politics, while highlighting themes that are of broad regional and comparative salience.

A book based on the project has already been contracted by a leading US university press.

The research team for the project comprises Duncan McCargo (President's Chair in Global Affairs at Nanyang Technological University), Chayata Sripanich (Research Associate) and Li Xinruo (Research Assistant).

Grant details: NTU  SUG 03INS001879C430OST01, IRB-2024-311.