Agenda

Pitch Pongsawat, Ph.D

A Remark on Modern Thai Political History: The struggle between revolution and passive revolution since 1932

The lecture provides both basic information and analytical tools to understand the dynamism of Thailand’s political history since the 1932 revolution. Gramsci’s notion of passive revolution seems to help understand the political structure and logic behind the Thai conservative movement, which prevents changes put forth by the progressive force and sets its direction of change. The current political deadlock is a clear example of the political outcome of an ongoing passive revolution of the regime, which is the continuation of the 2014 coup political structure and economic dominance.

Pitch Pongsawat is an Assistant Professor and the Head of the Department of Government, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. He has been teaching Modern Thai Politics and Southeast Asian Politics for two decades at both BA and PHD levels. His research focuses on electoral politics and current media politics in Thailand. In the aftermath of the 2014 coup, he was summoned and questioned by the military junta due to his critical stance on the golpe. In 2025, his name is still on the list of high-value target academics that the Thai security forces are monitoring, as disclosed by the main opposition party in a recent parliamentary debate. Pitch also served as a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford and the Harvard Yenching Institute, and as a guest professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of Passau.

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