Kriangsak Chamanan served as prime minister of Thailand from 1977 to 1980. After staging a successful coup, he was asked to become Prime Minister in 1977. He ruled till 1980 and is credited with "steering Thailand to democracy" in a time where communist insurgents were rampant internally and neighbouring countries turned to communist rule following the communist takeover of Vietnam: South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

The communist insurgency in Thailand was a guerrilla war lasting from 1965 until 1983, fought mainly between the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) and the government of Thailand. The war began to wind down in 1980 following the declaration of an amnesty, and in 1983, the CPT abandoned the insurgency entirely, ending the conflict.