Thailand has been in a deep political crisis since the royalist-military coup against the Thaksin government in 2006. A second coup, in 2014, ushered in a hard-line military dictatorship. The passing of King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016 and accession to the throne of his son and heir, King Vajiralongkorn, has further transformed Thailand’s political landscape. ... Show More
Jul 3
Zev Handel, "Chinese Characters Across Asia: How the Chinese Script Came to Write Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese" (U Washington Press, 2025)
For centuries, scribes across East Asia used Chinese characters to write things down–even in languages based on very different foundations than Chinese. In southern China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam, people used Chinese to read and write–and never thought it was odd. It was, after ... Show More
46m 54s
Jul 2
Heather Sutherland, "Seaways and Gatekeepers: Trade and State in the Eastern Archipelagos of Southeast Asia, C.1600-c.1906" (NUS Press, 2021)
The eastern archipelagos stretch from Mindanao and Sulu in the north to Bali in the southwest and New Guinea in the southeast. Many of their inhabitants are regarded as “people without history”, while colonial borders cut across shared underlying patterns. Yet many of these socie ... Show More
55m 47s
Aug 2023
What's next for Thailand after its latest political changes?
Thaksin Shinawatra returns home... Thailand’s former leader, back from exile, was immediately detained. He supports the new government - which is backed by the military that ousted him. The winners of the election are out in the cold. So, what's next for Thailand? And how will it ... Show More
25m 58s
May 2020
Wasana Wongsurawat, "The Crown and the Capitalists: The Ethnic Chinese and the Founding of the Thai Nation" (U Washington Press, 2019)
One can’t understand modern Thailand without understanding the role of the ethnic Chinese. And one can’t understand the role of the ethnic Chinese without understanding the history of their relationship to the Thai monarchy. This is exactly what Wasana Wongsurawat has documented ... Show More
53m 2s
Nov 2018
Political Parties - A Tale of Two Parties | 1
In the earliest days of the United States, there was no such thing as an organized political party. George Washington, elected twice to the presidency unanimously in the Electoral College, warned the new nation against political factions, writing that organized parties would beco ... Show More
45m 13s
Jul 2021
Max Skjönsberg, "The Persistence of Party: Ideas of Harmonious Discord in Eighteenth-Century Britain" (Cambridge UP, 2021)
Political parties are taken for granted today, but how was the idea of party viewed in the eighteenth century, when core components of modern, representative politics were trialled? From Bolingbroke to Burke, political thinkers regarded party as a fundamental concept of politics, ... Show More
1h 29m
Sep 2020
Encore: Political Parties | A Tale of Two Parties | 1
In the earliest days of the United States, there was no such thing as an organized political party. George Washington, elected twice to the presidency unanimously in the Electoral College, warned the new nation against political factions, writing that organized parties would beco ... Show More
45m 51s