What's it Like Teaching Political Science in a Thai University? [Season 3, Episode 44]

In this episode, a curious Greg queries Ed about what it’s like to teach political science in Thailand, a country that has suffered two coups since the boys arrived and which has been under military rule for the last four years.

Ed talks about his early days in the Kingdom, and his naive belief that Thailand had broken out of the ‘vicious cycle’ of semi-democracy and military intervention. Haha, silly Ed, because his happytime thoughts were followed, to his shock, by the 2006 coup and its following red/yellow dustups. Subsequently, Ed kept his mouth shut in class about Thai issues, while he tried to get his bearings.

That only lasted until about 2013, when the endless dramas of street protests led Ed to finally snap. Since then, he has spoken his mind about Thai politics to his students on a regular basis. How has he (and his students) fared since? Ed has some very interesting stories to tell.

(For what it’s worth, Greg - in his ‘most Buddhist moment yet’ - stopped caring about it all years ago, after getting too wound up over things he could not change.) #breathe

Last, the boys ponder the weirdness of growing up in strongly democratic countries only to find themselves living in an authoritarian society which is far from perfect but which, to the average Joe Somchai, seems relatively stable and eminently livable.

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