McCargo / Thaksin and the Resurgence of Violence THAKSIN AND THE RESURGENCE OF VIOLENCE IN THE THAI SOUTH Network Monarchy Strikes Back?

ABSTRACT: Rather than viewing the recent violence in the Thai South largely as a product of long-standing historical and socioeconomic grievances, this article ar-gues that the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has played a crucial role in provoking conflict in the region. Early in his premiership, Thaksin decided that the South was controlled by forces of “network monarchy ” loyal to the palace and to former prime minister Prem Tinsulanond. Thaksin sought to reorganize po-litical and security arrangements in the deep South in order to gain personal control of the area, but in the process he upset a carefully negotiated social contract that had ensured relative peace for two decades. As the violence increased, royal displeasure — articulated mainly by members of the Privy Council — forced Thaksin to make certain concessions, notably the creation of a National Reconciliation Commission to propose solutions for the growing crisis. Network monarchy had struck back, al-beit from a position of weakness. This analysis seeks to demonstrate that the south-ern violence is actually inextricable from wider developments in Thailand’s national politics