Today is the day in my Southeast Asian politics course when we discuss Thailand. Specifically, coups and prime ministers, and how Thailand has had many of them.
Here’s how I help the students to visualize it: with a big complicated table (which basically comes from Wikipedia). I use red to highlight periods of stability—defined as instances where the prime minister sticks around more than a year or two—and yellow to highlight coups.
Look at who was in charge during the red periods in the past, and how that changed recently.
I’m gearing up to add another line after the upcoming elections. I’m hoping that it’s not a yellow one.


