Thailand’s worst flood crisis in decades has spawned a political battle now threatening the fragile government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who came to power this summer as the nation’s first female prime minister.

Prior to the flooding, Yingluck’s election appeared to represent a long-awaited respite from the paralysis that has defined Thai politics in recent years -- a paralysis that often resulted in violent clashes between the “Red Shirt” supporters of Yingluck's brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and nationalist “Yellow Shirts” in central Bangkok. ...