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Name: Dr. Thitinan Pongsudhirak
Mailing Address: 36/13-14 Soi Pibulsongkram 22 Nonthaburi 11000 THAILAND (email: pongsudhirak@hotmail.com) Tel: Mobile 66-81-431 4650
EDUCATION:
2001 Ph.D., International Relations and International Political Economy, London School of Economics Thesis: “Crisis From Within: The Politics of Macroeconomic Management in Thailand, 1947-97”
1992 M.A., The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Concentrations: International Economics and International Relations
1989 B.A. (Honours) in Political Science The University of California at Santa Barbara Concentration: International Relations
EXPERIENCE:
August 2006 – present Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
June 2004 – present Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
Courses taught: International political economy; survey in international relations; social science research skills
February 2005 – present Columnist, The Bangkok Post Contribute regular op-eds on Thai politics, Macro-economy and foreign policy
September 2002 – June 2004 Deputy Dean for International Affairs, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
June 1993 – June 2004 Lecturer, Department of International Relations Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
November 2005 Consultant, Preuksa Real Estate (PR) Assisted Preuksa on its road show in preparation for listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
March – April 2005 Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore
February – March 2004 Consultant, Airports of Thailand (AOT) Assisted the AOT on its road show in preparation for listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand
January 1998 - 2007 The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) Thailand Country Analyst
March 1997 – 2007 Consultant, Independent Economic Analysis (IDEA) (Money-markets consultancy) Country Analyst, Thai politics and macroeconomy
April 1997 – 1999 Part-time Producer/Commentator The BBC World Service Thai Section/East Asia Today
August - September 1997 Campaign Organiser of Overseas Thais for the Constitution (OTC), an overseas Thai movement of more than 3,000 members who lobbied for the passage of Thailand’s 1997 constitution. Organized the campaign via the Internet, www.public.iastate.edu/~stu_org/Thai/consti
March - June 1994 Visiting Faculty Researcher, University of Tuebingen, GERMANY (Wrote a paper on comparative security organizations between ASEAN and the EU)
September 1994 - 2004 Freelance Simultaneous Translator (Thai-English)
September 1994 - 1996 Contributing Editor The Nation, English-language daily newspaper (Columnist on current Thai politics, economy, current affairs, and foreign relations)
August 1993 - March 1994 Research Associate Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) (Researched water allocation problems in Thailand)
June 1992 - June 1993 Reporter and Staff Writer, The Nation Wrote business news stories, with emphasis on Thai macro-economic policy, international trade and finance, stock market, and foreign direct investment
June - August 1991 Intern, Burson-Marsteller, public-relations consultancy
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
November 2006 Asia Society Young Leaders Summit Delegate
March – April 2005 Visiting Research Fellowship, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
2002 National Research Council of Thailand’s Ph.D. Dissertation Prize in Political Science and Public Administration
2001 United Kingdom’s Best Ph.D. Dissertation in Comparative and International Politics
1996 – 1999 Harvard-Yenching Ph.D. Scholarship
1991 – 1992 SAIS M.A. Scholarship
1990 – 1991 Leonard Dalsemer M.A. Scholarship
1989 – 1990 Henry Luce Graduate Fellowship (Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University)
1989 B.A. Graduation with Distinction in Political Science, University of California at Santa Barbara
1988 – 1989 University of California Undergraduate Fellowship
BOOKS:
Thailand’s Trade Policy Strategy and Capacity (in Thai), co-authored with Dr Razeen Sally, Bangkok: Department of International Relations, Chulalongkorn University, 2008.

Ten Years After the Economic Crisis: Thai Democracy at a Three-Way Crossroads (in Thai), Bangkok: Double AA Publishers, 2007.

Great Issues in Thailand's Public and Foreign Policies in the Next Decade (in Thai), co-edited with Abhinya Rattanamongkolmas, Bangkok: The Institute of Security and International Studies, 1994.

ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS:
“Thaksin: Competitive Authoritarian and Flawed Dissident” in John Kane, Haig Patapan and Benjamin Wong (eds), Dissident Democrats: The Challenge of Democratic Leadership in Asia, New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.

“Mainland Southeast Asia, ASEAN and the Major Powers in East Asian Regional Order” in Jun Tsunekawa (ed.), Regional Order in East Asia: ASEAN and Japan Perspectives, Tokyo: National Institute for Defense Studies, 2007.

“World War II and Thailand After 60 Years: Legacies and Latent Side-Effects” in David Koh (ed.), World War II: Transient and Enduring Legacies for East and Southeast Asia 60 Years On, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2007.

“The Malay-Muslim Insurgency in Southern Thailand” in Andrew T.H. Tan (ed.), A Handbook of Terrorism and Insurgency in Southeast Asia, Singapore: Edward Elgar, 2007.

“Thaksin’s Political Zenith and Nadir” in Southeast Asian Affairs 2006, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2006.

“Thailand” in Russell H.K. Heng and Rahul Sen (eds), Regional Outlook: Southeast Asia, 2006-2007, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2006.

“Thai Politics After the 6 February 2005 General Election”, Trends Series, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), March 2005.

“Thailand’s Foreign Policy Under the Thaksin Government”, EurAsia Bulletin, Brussels: European Institute of Asian Studies, December 2004.

“The Rise of Bilateral Free Trade Areas in Asia” in Hank Lim and Chungly Lee (eds), The North-South Divide: An Appraisal of Asian Regionalism, Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Publishers, 2004.

“Globalisation and Its Thai Critics” in Yoichiro Sato (ed.) Growth and Governance in Asia, Honolulu: Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, 2004.

“Thailand: Democratic Authoritarianism”, Southeast Asian Affairs 2003, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003.

“Small Arms Trafficking in Southeast Asia: A Perspective from Thailand” in Philips J. Vermonte (ed.), Small Is (Not) Beautiful: The Problem of Small Arms in Southeast Asia, Jakarta: Centre for Strategic and International Studies, 2004.

“Autonomy, Institutions, and the Baht Crisis”, in Dieter Mahneke, Kullada Kesboonchoo-Mead, Prathoomporn Vajrasthira, and Rudolf Hrbek (eds), ASEAN and the EU in the International Environment, Asia-Europe Studies Series Volume 4. Baden-Baden, Germany: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999.

“Thailand’s media: Whose watchdog?” in Kevin Hewison (ed.), Political Change in Thailand. London: Routledge, 1997.

“ASEAN Security Imperatives: Lessons From European Security Cooperation”, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok: Journal of European Studies, Vol. 3, 1995.

“The Central Plains”, a chapter in Water Conflicts, Bangkok: Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), 1995.

“Thailand’'s Foreign Economic Policies in An Uncertain Era: Arranging Priorities for the 21st Century” (in Thai), a chapter in Abhinya Rattanamongkolmas and Thitinan Pongsudhirak (eds), Great Issues in Thailand’s Public and Foreign Policies in the Next Decade (in Thai), 1994.

SELECTED OP-EDS:
The Bangkok Post, “The politics of Thaksin’s homecoming”, 29 February 2008
The Bangkok Post, “Resurgent populism under ‘B Team’”, 8 February 2008
The Bangkok Post, “Samak's prospects and longevity”, 1 February 2008
The Bangkok Post, “A grand tug-of-war still prevails”, 22 January 2008
The Bangkok Post, “When Hong Kong comes to Bangkok”, 11 January 2008
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “Let the Party Begin”, 28 December 2007
The Bangkok Post, “PPP-led govt not a foregone conclusion”, 25 December 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Populism triumphs in an emerging new Thailand”, 20 December 2007
OpinionAsia.org, “Thai Rak Thai’s Reincarnations To Win the Election”, 18 December 2007
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “The Resurrection of Thai Rak Thai”, 12 December 2007
The Bangkok Post, “The post-election numbers game”, 3 December 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Asean’s bang ends in a whimper”, 28 November 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Coalition govt a foregone conclusion?”, 13 November 2007
OpinionAsia.org, “Thailand’s Biggest Question Mark: King Bhumibol’s Health”, 11 November 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Leadership shapes electoral landscape”, 24 October 2007
The Bangkok Post, “The junta plays a new ball game”, 10 October 2007
The Bangkok Post, “ASEAN’s failure and Thailand’s shame”, 28 September 2007
The Bangkok Post, “The Politics of Gen Sonthi’s civilian role”, 27 September 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Little good about ‘good’ coup”, 19 September 2007
South China Morning Post, “Climbing on the ruins of Thai democracy”, 6 September 2007
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “A Poor Poll”, 21 August 2007
OpinionAsia.org, “Thailand’s Power Holders Put Thaksin Away”, 20 June 2007
OpinionAsia.org, “Anti-Thaksin Draft Charter is a Dead End”, 30 April 2007
OpinionAsia.org, “Thai junta in search of Exit Strategy”, 29 March 2007
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “Thailand’s Constitutional Crisis”, 24 May 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Designed to prevent monopoly”, 20 April 2007
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “A Coup Disgraced”, 12 April 2007
The Bangkok Post, “A long road to general election day”, 10 April 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Government's baht policy in disarray”, 28 March 2007
The Bangkok Post, “CNS in search of an exit strategy”, 23 March 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Reshuffle unlikely to be PM's last”, 14 March 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Crisis of leadership hits Surayud govt”, 2 March 2007
The Irrawaddy, “Thailand’s Titanic Struggle”, February 2007
OpinionAsia.org, “Thaksin is down but still not out”, 16 February 2007
The Bangkok Post, “The Surayud govt's moral setback”, 20 February 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Bangkok's two-airport imperative”, 14 February 2007
The Bangkok Post, “CNS, govt face high stakes at Suvarnabhumi”, 12 February 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Enough is definitely not enough”, 26 January 2007
OpinionAsia, “The End of Thailand (as we know it), 20 January 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Singapore's insensitive miscalculation”, 18 January 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Legal clarity becomes policy confusion”, 13 January 2007
Asia Times Online, “Thailand’s Year of Living Dangerously”, 5 January 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Objective clear, identity murky”, 4 January 2007
The Bangkok Post, “Surayud govt's technocratic debacle”, 27 December 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Alarming constitutional preferences”, 22 December 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Alarming rifts in anti-Thaksin coalition”, 15 December 2006
Asia Times Online, “Singapore's troubled Shin Corp deal”, 13 December 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Something is odd about the coup”, 24 November 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Doing a Thaksin deepens Singapore's culpability”, 13 November 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Military losing post-coup momentum”, 2 November 2006
The Bangkok Post, “No honeymoon for the general”, 3 October 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Uphill struggle ahead for coup council”, 26 September 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Stepping in to heal the breach”, 22 September 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Political implications of election delay”, 20 September 2006
The Bangkok Post, “The politics of Suvarnabhumi Airport”, 13 September 2006
The Bangkok Post, “C-in-C's olive branch anathema to CEO”, 6 September 2006
The Irrawaddy, “Thailand at the Crossroads”, September 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Behind Thaksin's self-victimisation”, 29 August 2006
The Bangkok Post, “The Democrat party’s moment of truth”, 16 August 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Brinkmanship at nation’s expense”, 7 August 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Small step in the right direction”, 31 July 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Decree does not legitimise Thaksin”, 24 July 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Thaksin goes on the offensive” 12 July 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Coupling may exonerate TRT”, 29 June 2006
The Bangkok Post, “End of beginning in Thailand’s crisis”, 19 May 2006
The Bangkok Post, “A murky way out of the political crisis”, 5 May 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Post-Thaksin economic policy challenges”, 14 April 2006
The Bangkok Post, “The political standoff is not over”, 7 April 2006
The Bangkok Post, “PAD needs to regroup and rethink”, 29 March 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Thaksin’s endgame is now in sight”, 17 March 2006
International Herald Tribune, “Thailand: Thaksin’s challengers have responsibility, too”, 14 March 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Boycott: the easy, but wrong, way out”, 28 February 2006
The Bangkok Post, “PM must dissolve House now, or resign in disgrace later”, 24 February 2006
The Bangkok Post, “House dissolution is best way out”, 10 February 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Is Temasek complicit in scandal?”, 6 February 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Perception, not the substance, is vital”, 3 February 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Thaksin’s political insurance policy”, 26 January 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Thaksin’s political survival at stake”, 13 January 2006
The Bangkok Post, “Sondhi should go back to his office”, 9 December 2005
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “Thai Democracy on the March”, 2-4 December 2005.
The Bangkok Post, “Egat could be Thaksin’s undoing”, 28 November 2005
The Bangkok Post, “The de-mystification of PM Thaksin”, 20 September 2005
The Bangkok Post, “Latent effects from Thailand’s brush with the great war”, 16 August 2005
The Bangkok Post, “Thailand’s wartime balancing act”, 15 August 2005
The Irrawaddy, “A Win-Win-Win Proposition for Thaksin”, August 2005
The Bangkok Post, “What next after the emergency decree?”, 22 July 2005
The Bangkok Post, “The hawks now in complete charge”, 19 July 2005
The Bangkok Post, “’Thaksinomics’ ignores the reality”, 15 July 2005
The Bangkok Post, “The ‘little empires’ are striking back”, 28 June 2005
The Bangkok Post, “Seeing through obfuscation”, 24 May 2005
The Bangkok Post, “Bloody events have mixed legacy”, 20 May 2005
The Straits Times, “Stay the course on southern troubles”, 9 April 2005.
The Straits Times, “Thaksin’s second chance in Thailand”, 26 March 2005.
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “Facing Up to Thailand’s Separatism”, 11 November 2004
The Asian Wall Street Journal, “Thaksin Flirts With Liverpool”, 26 May 2004
The Bangkok Post, “Thaksin casts a wide spell”, 19 January 2004.
Far Eastern Economic Review, “Behind Thaksin’s War on Terror”, 25 September 2003.
International Herald Tribune, “No dissent in Bangkok?”, 5 March 2002.
International Herald Tribune, “But the Prime-Minister-to-Be Could Be Ruled Out”, 10 January 2001.
International Herald Tribune, “Thailand’s Incompetent Government Cries Out for Reform,” 12 August 1997.
International Herald Tribune, “One Year After the Thai Crisis: Some Winners and Losers”, 2 July 1998.
Far Eastern Economic Review, "Avoid the 18th coup," (5th column), 4 April 1991.
*** Additional op-eds written for The Nation and Bangkok Post available on request.

OTHER MEDIA:
TELEVISION: Commented on Thai politics and macro-economy for CNN, CNBC, BBC World, Bloomberg TV, NHK, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Channel News Asia, Reuters TV, AFPTV, APTV, PBS, Al Jazeera, BBC2 Newsnight Program, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Star TV News, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (May 1992), and local Thai TV stations 5, 9, 11, UBC8, and iTV.
PRINT AND RADIO: Quoted in The Economist, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Time, Newsweek, Bloomberg News, International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Times of London, Le Figaro, Le Match, Der Spiegel, Straits Times, Today, New Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Star, USA Today, Boston Globe, Asahi Shimbun, Mainichi Shimbun, Kyodo News, Nikkei, Far Eastern Economic Review, Asian Business, Reuters, AP, AFP, Bloomberg, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Radio Singapore, Radio Australia, Radio Scotland, BBC World Service East Asia Today, and BBC NewsHour, among other broadcast outlets

OTHER BACKGROUND DETAILS:
Languages: Thai (native); Thai and English (bilingual); French (functional)
Hobbies: Competition-level tennis
Marital Status: Married to Dr Pavida Pananond; with one daughter