Metropolis, monarchy and the masses: Anti-royalism in Thailand's contemporary urban spaces

Abstract

Across 2020 and 2021, the urban spaces of Thailand became the site for anti-royalist activism led primarily by youths and young adults. The Thai youth movement of this period can be seen as a dynamic struggle against the expansion of royal power politically and economically in the metropolises. Inspired by the Lefebvrian concept of the right to the city, this article seeks to illuminate the urban logics of Thailand's ongoing political unrest. It examines in detail the urban spatial strategies of protesters. A series of phases of protest are identified, each in different types of urban spaces and in differing degrees of engagement with what was construed as forms of royal-linked gentrification or urban change. As will be shown, Thailand's recent popular uprisings cannot simply be characterised as democratic struggles against an authoritarian regime. Their urban siting and coalition with other urban interests offer evidence of how royal authority is increasingly resulting in contentious urban change, including the royal-instigated re-enclosure of previously public spaces and the dispossession of the urban poor through royal-linked development initiatives.