ISEAS Perspective – Assessing the Bhumjaithai Party’s Technocratic Turn: Cosmetic Change or Catalyst for Reform?

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, right, also leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, joins Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Yodchanan Wongsawat, left, and Labour Minister Julapun Amornvivat, centre, also leader of the Pheu Thai Party, meeting the press at Government House on April 7, 2026 | Photo by Chanat Katanyu/Bangkok Post/Bangkok Post via AFP

In this paper published by NYSEAN Partner ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Mathis Lohatepanont asserts that although Bhumjaithai’s technocratic turn resembles a return to 20th-century practices of utilizing technocrats in key governing positions, there are  critical differences that may limit the efficacy of the current set of technocrats.

Mathis Lohatepanont is Visiting Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, and a Ph.D. student at the Department of Political Science, University of Michigan.