Critical Thought in Thailand After Marxism: Political History Through Ideas

This collaborative Australian-Thai project will analyse previously neglected sources to document competing schools of critical thought that have emerged in Thailand since the end of the Cold War. In mapping the changing contours of modern Thai intellectual history, our team will trace the intense battles of ideas that parallel the often-violent political contests in the country. Key themes will be debates between internationalist globalisers and anti-Western nationalists, and a growing reliance on accounts of Buddhism and the Thai monarchy to replace Marx in critiques of domestic and global capitalism. Our project will deepen understanding of the tensions that now polarise one of Australia’s strategically most important regional neighbours.