The aim of this thesis was to examine the 1970s democratisation and antidemocratisation processes in Thailand, more specifically the 1973 Thai popular uprising and the 6 October 1976 massacre. Its point of departure was Erica Chenoweth’s 2023 research on how societal pillars, if incentivised by activists, can realise democratisation and the research gap on media reports affecting people’s perception of protesters which she also addressed.  It also investigated the fine line between uncontroversial and controversial subjects in the context of protests and how to overthrow a régime using its weaknesses.

The methods which have been used are a combination of a qualitative research approach, a congruence method, process-tracing and a case study. Popovic and Miller’s method of choosing an uncontroversial subject when protesting and Sharp’s ideas about the Achilles’ heels of a régime were used as supplementary analytical frameworks.

The 1973 case resulted in democratisation taking place, partially due to the protesting students having King Bhumibol’s full support, partially due to the disunity of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (henceforth RTARF) and partially due to the ruling military junta’s failed attempts to, through media, manipulate the masses into turning their backs on the students.

The 1976 case, on the other hand, led to antidemocratisation, because of the general dissatisfaction with the achievements of democracy, King Bhumibol’s support of authoritarianism, the influence of right-wing media on its consumers and the police, military and paramilitary alliance crushing the pro-democratic demonstration at the Thammasat University campus and the Village Scouts’ subsequent antigovernment protest.