Sentence:  The bluntness of King Vajiralongkorn's intervention—and the determination it reveals to resist relatively small checks on royal power—is both a snub to the junta and a worry for democrats, some of whom had dared hope that the new king might be happy to take a <WSD>back seat</WSD> in public life. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A lesser or inferior position; a position of deliberate noninvolvement, in which decision-making or leadership is left to others.