Since the 2006 military coup, Thai politics has become predictable. Political forces use public protests to forward their agenda, governments fall amid protests or military intervention, and a new election is held. Thailand's political cycle is partly a result of the country's inherent insolubility, whereby elites in Bangkok traditionally have ruled the more populous but politically marginalized rural regions. But now, the rural masses are finding the power to select representatives who do not conform to the traditional political-economic model. Thailand benefits from its location and geography . Located in the heart of Indochina, what eventually became Thailand emerged as one of the most powerful kingdoms in Southeast Asia, once wielding ethnic and religious influence from northeastern Myanmar to Laos. Its geopolitical advantages helped Bangkok manage Western colonization, communist revolution and the internal turmoil that plagued most of its neighbors throughout the 20th century.