Thitinan is a renowned scholar, journalist and expert in international relations and domestic politics across Asia. He has spent more than three decades analyzing and advising on Thailand and the region’s political economy, geopolitics and policy. He helps BGA and clients understand in-depth the global, regional and domestic issues that affect business.
Thitinan is a professor of international relations and international political economy at Bangkok-based Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Political Science and a senior fellow at its Institute of Security and International Studies. He has lectured widely at local and international universities, military colleges and international organizations on political and macroeconomic issues in Thailand and other ASEAN markets, with a focus on mainland Southeast Asia and the greater Mekong subregion. His frequent interviews and more than 1,000 opinion articles appear regularly in leading international media.
Thitinan has worked in journalism, country risk with the Economist Intelligence Unit and business intelligence, having provided briefings to leading financial institutions, fund managers, multinational corporations, international chambers of commerce and diplomatic missions. He received an award for excellence in opinion writing from the Society of Publishers in Asia in 2015. He was appointed an ASEAN@50 fellow by New Zealand’s minister of foreign affairs and trade in 2018 and the Australia-ASEAN fellow of Sydney-based Lowy Institute in 2019.
Thitinan’s postgraduate work in international economics and international relations at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) led to his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His work on Thailand’s political economy at the time of the 1997 Asian financial crisis was awarded the United Kingdom’s Best Dissertation Prize in 2002.