Securitization of civil resistance: Thailand’s military junta and beyond

On May 22, 2014, Thailand witnessed its twelfth military coup. Despite deficiency in democratic legitimacy, the junta has thus far sustained mass support, while challengers to its rule are denounced as a threat to the restoration of national order. This article seeks to demonstrate the way in which security discourses in Thailand are manufactured and employed to undermine civil resistance to the military junta. It relies on the securitization concept to analyse the discursive depth of repression which potentially undermines the effect of ‘Political Jiu-jitsu’ and ‘Backfire’ examined in civil resistance literature. The Thai case shows that four discursive components consolidate the framing of dissidents as a security threat. These are: 1) A security narrative creating fear of national order breakdown due to polarising conflicts caused by representative democracy; 2) A security narrative promising the reintroduction of political stability through military dictatorship; 3) The identification of anti-junta protests as acts that threaten to sabotage this order-restoration process; 4) The portrayal of the army-led junta as the national savior protecting Thailand from internal threats, including protests demanding democracy. The article concludes by suggesting that in order to combat the securitization strategy of the junta, pro-democracy activists need to develop de-securitization strategies in order to enhance the effectiveness of their campaigns.