Explainer | Thailand’s dynasty in distress: the Shinawatras’ quarter-century of power
From Thaksin to Yingluck and now Paetongtarn, the family’s hold on power has been repeatedly challenged by military and royalist forces
Thaksin Shinawatra amassed a telecoms fortune before driving the family’s entry into politics, elected to power in 2001 and again in 2005, when he led the first Thai party ever to secure an overall majority alone.
His populist policies won the devotion of rural voters but the ire of the pro-monarchy, pro-military establishment who regarded him as an insurgent threat to the traditional social order.
The patriarch was ousted in a 2006 coup, but Thai politics has remained dominated by jousting between his Shinawatra clan successors and Bangkok’s tradition-oriented elite.
Thaksin served as a police officer before making his fortune and launching his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, promising to use his business savvy to uplift rural areas.