Showing 221 - 230 of 233
Thailand needs viable electoral alternatives
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 28/06/2013
» After some months of relative calm following turmoil and mayhem in recent years, Thai politics is heating up again.
Recalibrating majority rule, minority rights
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 14/06/2013
» From Turkey to Thailand and elsewhere where political legitimacy derives from electoral democracy, the relationship between majority rule and minority rights has become problematic and in need of recalibration. If a more effective majoring-minority moving balance is not found, electoral democracy is likely to be discredited and undermined to the detriment of societies it was cultivated and designed to govern.
Other 'facilitators' needed in South after Najib poll win
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/05/2013
» Overthrowing an incumbent regime that has been entrenched for 55 years is akin to beating a reigning champion boxer with multiple belts. Unless the challenger delivers a clean knockout or a debilitating knockdown, he is unlikely to be given the decision by the judges. And so it was for Malaysia's much anticipated elections last Sunday. It was a split decision but the champion walks away with victory amid bitter cries of foul play and dirty tricks.
Governor status quo leaves city as microcosm of nation
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 06/03/2013
» The resulting and relative status quo that emerged from Bangkok's gubernatorial polls on Sunday bears cold implications for the national political landscape and the future of City Hall politics.
Democrats risk political oblivion in city poll
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 08/02/2013
» Over the past decade, Bangkok's governor race has provided telling implications for national politics. The winner, in that time, has come from the opposition party in national politics. In other words, the largest national winning party lost in Bangkok consecutively in 2004, 2008 and 2009. This time, ahead of the March 3 poll, the Bangkok governor race is yielding counterintuitive poll numbers that may portend a pattern for the next national election due by 2015.
US poll has huge implications for Thailand
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 02/11/2012
» Few spectacles capture world attention like the United States presidential election.
New great game in mainland Southeast Asia
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 19/10/2012
» After more than a year in office with an overwhelming electoral mandate, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has parlayed her solidifying domestic standing for growing international credibility.
Many more checks but far fewer balances
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/07/2012
» The Constitution Court's verdict last Friday to dismiss petitions against the legislature for drafting a bill that would amend the charter has defused tensions and averted another round of street demonstrations in the near term.
Euro-style integration not the way forward for East Asia
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 31/05/2012
» Not so long ago, it was popular for university students in these parts to write term papers on comparisons between the economic integration of the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' economic cooperation after the formation of the Asean Free Trade Area in 1992. Such interest in this European-Asean parallel has dried up following the global financial crisis that convulsed the United States and other Western economies in 2007-08 and the spiralling crisis of the euro, the EU's main currency.
Deprivation to deliverance in Myanmar
News, Thitinan Pongsudhirak, Published on 20/04/2012
» The opposition National League for Democracy's virtual sweep of 43 out of 44 MP seats in Myanmar's recent by-elections was a long time coming.