The Next Steps in Thailand's Crisis

Thailand's political crisis has reached a new juncture. On Dec. 8 Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called for the dissolution of parliament and new elections to be held in February 2014 after the opposition Democrat Party resigned from parliament and mass protests surged in the opposition stronghold of Bangkok.

Changes in the country's regionally inflected social and economic status are driving demands for greater political representation and budgetary support from about half the population, mostly in the north and northeast. This populist movement, represented by the ruling Pheu Thai party and the Shinawatra family, continues to face opposition from the established power in Bangkok, generating a constitutional crisis amid an impending royal succession.