Giles Ji Ungpakorn 2015 The role of Thai social movements in democrasaon The role of social movements in democrasaon A case study from Thailand 1 Giles Ji Ungpakorn There is a confusing array of social movements which claim some kind of democrac credenals: The Yellow Umbrella movement in Hong Kong, an-government protests in Venezuela, The Free Fare Movement of 2013 and the connuing protests against the government of President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, The Gezi Park protest in Turkey, Ukraine's Maidan protests, The an-Islam Pegida movement in Germany and The Sunflower Student Movement in Taiwan against the passing of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, are just some examples. In recent Thai polical history we have had The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) or the “Yellow Shirts”, The People's Democrac Reform Commiee (PDRC) 2 and the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or the “Red Shirts”. 1 Paper presented at the Internaonal Conference on Human Rights Educaon, Soochow University, Taipei, November 2015. 2 The PDRC’s full name in Thai was “The People’s Commiee to Change Thailand into a Perfect Democracy with the King as Head of State”. 1