Dr Michael Montesano is Associate Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. He was previously Coordinator of the Thailand and Myanmar Studies Programme at the institute.
He spent six years as managing editor of the ISEAS journal SOJOURN: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. His life in the region began in the 1980s, when he served as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in South Thailand and studied agriculture at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños.
Michael J. Montesano
In choosing to align itself with military-backed parties, the Pheu Thai Party has betrayed the faith of voters who believed that democratic principles would best ensure Thailand’s future.
Michael J. Montesano
Questions about the political fate of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha serve as a distraction. It is more important to understand the post-2014 authoritarian system that supports Prayut.
Michael J. Montesano
Thailand's ambitious plans for a wellness corridor along its Andaman Coast underscores the coming together of different players for the development of the country's regions.
Tita Sanglee|Michael J. Montesano
There are growing calls in Phuket, Thailand’s tourism powerhouse, to become more autonomous from the central authorities in Bangkok. While such an idea has not gained traction outside Phuket, the province might need to think deeper about what autonomy entails, and in what form.
Htet Myet Min Tun|Moe Thuzar|Michael J. Montesano
The inclusion of civilians on the country’s latest junta is impossible to understand without a clear appreciation that that this junta is above all an anti-NLD project. This article examines the profiles of the civilians co-opted into the junta.