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U.S.‐Thai security relations are "underperforming" due to major shifts in Thailand's and the United States' relations at the interactive domestic, regional, and international levels. The recent predominance of the military in Thailand's domestic politics has clashed with Washington's interpretation of the Shinawatra family's prior ascent to power through electoral processes. China's rise and its efforts to court the current Thai government by staying out of Thailand's internal politics has further exacerbated tensions with American policymakers who had already reduced the scope and depth of ties with Bangkok. How Thailand's political polarization is resolved will be most consequential to the future of Thai‐U.S. security relations. However, continued U.S. alliance relations remain essential for Thailand in view of China's intense campaign to woo Thailand's coup leaderships in 2006 and 2014. A lopsided Thai‐Chinese relationship puts at risk Thailand's traditionally masterful and clever foreign policy pragmatism and undercuts the traditional benefits that both the United States and Thailand have derived from their longstanding alliance relationship.

Mainland Southeast Asia -- long fought over and controlled by outside powers, from the colonial era through the Cold War -- is finally fending for itself, and then some. Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, which were once French Indochina, have grown at an impressive clip in recent years, with the last two taking their cues from China to blend communism and capitalism. Myanmar (also called Burma), once part of British India, is rapidly opening up to trade and foreign investment after decades of insular military dictatorship. And Thailand, the only Southeast Asian country never to have been taken over by a European colonial power, has proved resilient despite its prolonged political discord, humming along as the region's manufacturing, tourism, and service-sector hub. Adapted from the source document.

Abstract: In 2011, Thais reelected a party backed by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Although Thaksin himself was banned from actually appearing on the ballot, he emerged as the big winner when a new electoral vehicle known as the Pheu Thai Party (PTP, or "For Thais") gained a decisive victory with his younger sister Yingluck at its head. As of early 2012, however, no other reformist groups or individuals had appeared on the scene possessing anything like what it will take to reconcile monarchy and democracy in Thailand. All the same, however, it appears that Thailand cannot escape the challenge of reaching a new consensus that will root the monarchy more squarely within the constitution of an emerging democracy, but in a way that reconciles conservative royalists.

In 2011, Thais reelected a party backed by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Although Thaksin himself was banned from actually appearing on the ballot, he emerged as the big winner when a new electoral vehicle known as the Pheu Thai Party (PTP, or 'For Thais') gained a decisive victory with his younger sister Yingluck at its head. As of early 2012, however, no other reformist groups or individuals had appeared on the scene possessing anything like what it will take to reconcile monarchy and democracy in Thailand. All the same, however, it appears that Thailand cannot escape the challenge of reaching a new consensus that will root the monarchy more squarely within the constitution of an emerging democracy, but in a way that reconciles conservative royalists. Adapted from the source document.

The 2006 overthrow of Thaksin Shinawatra's government at the hands of the Royal Thai Army signaled a major step backward for Thai democracy. The country's 1997 Constitution—designed to promote the transparency and accountability of the political system and the stability and effectiveness of government—permitted Thaksin to convert his populist TRT party into an unstoppable political machine, one which would eventually fall victim to allegations of corruption and abuse of power. But the fundamental problem, a seemingly irreconcilable conflict between the traditional establishment—comprising the monarchy, military, and bureaucracy—and proponents of Thaksin-style populism, remains.