Several academics outside Thailand, including Duncan McCargo and Federico Ferrara, have noted the active political involvement of Bhumibol through a "network monarchy"
The network's ability to exercise power is based partly on Bhumibol's popularity and strict control of Bhumibol's popular image.
Bhumibol's popularity was demonstrated following the 2003 Phnom Penh riots in Cambodia, when hundreds of Thai protesters, enraged by rumors that Cambodian rioters had stomped on photographs of Bhumibol, gathered outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok.