A TIMELY BOOK ON THAI MONARCHY
EDITED BY PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN
Thai scholar Pavin Chachavalpongpun launched his book at Tallinn University on February 8 at 16:00 at Mare atrium. The presentation included:
- Introduction of the book
- Discussion of academic censorship
- Q & A
- Reception
The discussion was be led by Eur-Asian Border Lab core team member John Buchanan of the School of Humanities from Tallinn University.
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REVIEWER COMMENT:
🙶 While monarchical succession in the modern western world has little impact on daily politics, the accession of King Rama X has profoundly affected Thai society in previously unimagined ways. This book boldly undertakes the task of outlining the changes to power structures in the new reign, whether these affect parliamentary politics, peoples’ politics, political rights and freedoms or even cultural politics. Its chapters by outstanding scholars in the field represent a valuable resource to understand not merely the changes to the Thai monarchy, but also the root causes of the political turbulence of the past few decades.🙷
– Kanokrat Lertchoosakul, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Pavin Chachavalponpun is associate professor at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. He is the chief editor of the online journal, Kyoto Review of Southeast Asia. Pavin, with a PhD in Political Science (2002) from the University of London, has edited and written several books on Thai politics. For his critical views of the monarchy, Pavin Chachavalpongpun has been charged in 2014 under the draconian lése-majesté law, which prohibits insults against the monarchy with a maximum prison term of up to 15 years. This book, Rama X, has already been banned in Thailand for defaming the Thai monarchy – with anyone importing the book into Thailand liable to a jail term of up to 3 years and/or a fine of up to 60,000 baht (€1,570). Also in 2020, Pavin’s manuscript, Coup, King, Crisis: A Critical Interregnum in Thailand, although accepted by National University of Singapore (NUS) Press and about to be published, was cancelled at the last minute. Both books are published by the Yale University Southeast Asia Studies.
For more information about the book, click here.
For more on the ban and Thai politics, click here.