“Khaki Clout: Civil-Military Relations Under Thailand’s Tutelary Defective Democracy in 2026” by Khaki Clout (Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University), July 27, 13:05-

Research Seminar

Khaki Clout: Civil-Military Relations Under Thailand’s Tutelary Defective Democracy in 2026   

When: July 27 (Monday), 2026, 13:05 ~ 14:45
Where: Building #3, Rm. 915, Waseda University (Waseda Campus)

Talk Summary:
In Thailand in 2026, attempts at democratic transitions have failed to establish any lasting civilian control over the military, mostly owing to historically entrenched military autonomy and frail institutional mechanisms. Indeed, the military has increasingly pushed back against civilian oversight efforts since 2013. Today what is the extent of civilian monitoring and how has the military pushed back? What is the role of the military in Thailand’s democratic breakdowns? To what extent has the military used structural factors (security issues, institutional propinquity to those close to the palace) to assert its own power? This presentation draws from Democratization and Civilian Control in Asia (Palgrave 2013) by Aurel Croissant, David Kuehn, Philip Lorenz and myself. While that book examined the case of Thailand in 2013, this presentation examines to what extent Thai civil-military relations have changed 13 years later.

Presenter Bio:
Paul Chambers is Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University. He is also a Lecturer at the Department of International and Area Studies, University of Oklahoma; Executive Editor of Asian Affairs: An American Review, and Associate Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (Singapore). He is author of Praetorian Kingdom: A History of Military Ascendancy in Thailand (ISEAS 2024) and co-editor of Khaki Capital: The Political Economy of the Military in Southeast Asia (NIAS 2017).  He has authored or co-authored over 100 publications, including journal articles, book chapters, and eight books.

Contact:  Yuko Kasuya ([email protected])