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It depends whether one considers Thailand to have been part of informal empire or not, much like the British influence over Portugal, Chile and Argentina. Eith

It depends whether one considers Thailand to have been part of informal empire or not, much like the British influence over Portugal, Chile and Argentina. Either way, Thailand was also a Cold War hold out. It bordered Cambodia, Laos and Burma, and Vietnam by sea, all of which became Communist-run. The west helped prop it up. There is a whole other argument about Thailand's current relationship with the west, which is complex to say the least.

csomar 2mo ago
They decided to “nation-state”. The border theory doesn’t hold since colonial nations border each other pretty much everywhere else. The reality is, a nation state (a la french model) is much more powerful than the primitive kingdom structure or any other structure really. Most of these kingdoms/empires didn’t have education for the masses or mass levies.
- nephihaha 2mo ago
  All of Thailand's neighbours to the north fell to Communism. There was a major attempt to make Malaya (as was) Communist as well, which failed. However, I'm sceptical of the term nation state. I don't consider France to be a homogenous nation, since it contains areas like Brittany, Alsace and Basque areas. Likewise, Thailand has some indigenous minorities.
  - esperent 2mo ago
    > Likewise, Thailand has some indigenous minorities I don't think I've ever been in a country that doesn't have indigenous minorities so I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove. Maybe a very small country like Iceland could claim not to have any indigenous minorities? Otherwise they basically all do.
    - nephihaha 2mo ago
      Put it this way. I am Scottish, and when people say somewhere like the UK is a "nation state", I'm sceptical. Scottish attitudes towards the UK range from total attachment to total alienation, but with the majority maintaining some level of Scottish national identity within that. I've met people from France who did not consider themselves French but to be Breton, Basque, Corsican etc as their national identity. I don't know much about Thailand's minorities, but if it is anything like some Asian countries such as Nepal or the Philippines, its national identity is probably more complex. You're right to mention Iceland, although by area it isn't that small! Remote island nations probably qualify better as nation states than conglomerates such as Thailand and France.
      - stephbook 2mo ago
        You can always break some UK laws and find out whether you are ruled from London. Expensive experiment for sure, but I'm certain of the outcome. Likewise, the Catalans (a region in Spain) recently found out whether they belong to the nation state Spain. Their seditious "leaders" were thrown into prison by Spain.
        ThrowawayR2 2mo ago
        Your example demonstrates that the UK meets the definition of a state but not necessarily the definition a nation (shared culture/identity).
        nephihaha 2mo ago
        The UK is a state, but arguable as a nation from certain points of view. It is not a federal system as some think it is. In fact, even the relatively recent UK supreme court may very well be unconstitutional. France has been more heavy-handed with uniting its nation, but even it has issues. Spain is possibly looser than the UK, at least outside the sporting arena.
        deleted 2mo ago
        [deleted]
        2mo ago
  - csomar 2mo ago
    I think I should be more precise, a Modern nation state. One that imposes laws afar to all minorities/regions, establish some institutions (medical/education/tax/etc..) and raise an army (check some african countries armies or the lack thereof). The reason why I mentioned the french is because they were the first to modernize at a significant scale (which enabled them to take over all of Europe?) during their revolution.
    - nephihaha 2mo ago
      The French never took over all of Europe. Though they came as close as anyone did. France was a large state, but within easy reach of a number of much smaller ones such as the German and Italian states. The Russian and the British Empires managed to defeat them, although geography complicated things in both cases. France did and does retain some odd ideas about its colonies. It took a long while to realise that most of the people in Algeria didn't consider themselves an integral part of France. Their Pacific possessions are seen as France as well.

csomar 2mo ago

They decided to “nation-state”. The border theory doesn’t hold since colonial nations border each other pretty much everywhere else. The reality is, a nation state (a la french model) is much more powerful than the primitive kingdom structure or any other structure really. Most of these kingdoms/empires didn’t have education for the masses or mass levies.

nephihaha 2mo ago
All of Thailand's neighbours to the north fell to Communism. There was a major attempt to make Malaya (as was) Communist as well, which failed. However, I'm sceptical of the term nation state. I don't consider France to be a homogenous nation, since it contains areas like Brittany, Alsace and Basque areas. Likewise, Thailand has some indigenous minorities.
- esperent 2mo ago
  > Likewise, Thailand has some indigenous minorities I don't think I've ever been in a country that doesn't have indigenous minorities so I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove. Maybe a very small country like Iceland could claim not to have any indigenous minorities? Otherwise they basically all do.
  - nephihaha 2mo ago
    Put it this way. I am Scottish, and when people say somewhere like the UK is a "nation state", I'm sceptical. Scottish attitudes towards the UK range from total attachment to total alienation, but with the majority maintaining some level of Scottish national identity within that. I've met people from France who did not consider themselves French but to be Breton, Basque, Corsican etc as their national identity. I don't know much about Thailand's minorities, but if it is anything like some Asian countries such as Nepal or the Philippines, its national identity is probably more complex. You're right to mention Iceland, although by area it isn't that small! Remote island nations probably qualify better as nation states than conglomerates such as Thailand and France.
    - stephbook 2mo ago
      You can always break some UK laws and find out whether you are ruled from London. Expensive experiment for sure, but I'm certain of the outcome. Likewise, the Catalans (a region in Spain) recently found out whether they belong to the nation state Spain. Their seditious "leaders" were thrown into prison by Spain.
      - ThrowawayR2 2mo ago
        Your example demonstrates that the UK meets the definition of a state but not necessarily the definition a nation (shared culture/identity).
        nephihaha 2mo ago
        The UK is a state, but arguable as a nation from certain points of view. It is not a federal system as some think it is. In fact, even the relatively recent UK supreme court may very well be unconstitutional. France has been more heavy-handed with uniting its nation, but even it has issues. Spain is possibly looser than the UK, at least outside the sporting arena.
      - deleted 2mo ago
        [deleted]
      - 2mo ago
- csomar 2mo ago
  I think I should be more precise, a Modern nation state. One that imposes laws afar to all minorities/regions, establish some institutions (medical/education/tax/etc..) and raise an army (check some african countries armies or the lack thereof). The reason why I mentioned the french is because they were the first to modernize at a significant scale (which enabled them to take over all of Europe?) during their revolution.
  - nephihaha 2mo ago
    The French never took over all of Europe. Though they came as close as anyone did. France was a large state, but within easy reach of a number of much smaller ones such as the German and Italian states. The Russian and the British Empires managed to defeat them, although geography complicated things in both cases. France did and does retain some odd ideas about its colonies. It took a long while to realise that most of the people in Algeria didn't consider themselves an integral part of France. Their Pacific possessions are seen as France as well.