Reddit reviews Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism (Studies on Southeast Asia)

I'd argue you can do just as well by treating the monarchy in its relations with the other founts of power: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism deconstructs the ends and means of Sarit's strongmanship (in a level of detail beyond "his self-interest, of course") - still relevant, given that we'd otherwise have little to appeal to once the military decides Something Must Be Done yet again; while The Soteriology of the State instead describes what occurs should you want to view the monarchy as an extension of state-with-a-small-s Buddhism (the former does more to sustain the latter, but that doesn't deny an interesting relationship from adhering in the other direction.) Both are from the 70s and 80s - but I've in fact had trouble finding sources from even earlier that set out to investigate without using foreign relations as a point to begin and end īth, considering there remains more to be said about the range of democracies Thailand has sustained.

The former, curiously enough, you'll be able to easily get in a Books Kinokuniya. Do it to feel like a rebel - come on...