Democracy in Thailand under Thai Rak Thai government

Abstract

The general elections of 2001 and 2005, which led up to the eventual landslide victory of the Thai Rak Thai party, led by billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra, offers the first chance to evaluate the latest Thai Constitution, and assess democracy in Thailand under the current government. In analysing the democratization process of Thailand, it is important to begin with the overthrow of the absolute monarchy in 1932. Since then, various constitution have been promulgated as the principle of the 'democratic' regime but also successive military dictatorships have reinforced the political hegemony of the ruling elite by creating a particular form of state identity linked to repression. Significant change to the Thai political system whch were the result of class struggle in the October 1973 and May 1992 uprisings, shows that the power of the state could only be countered by mass-based social movements. Therefore, the fundamental principles of democracy; political equality and popular participation, are only effective in conjunction with class politics from below. For this reason the democratic model used in this thesis places much importance of the existence of political space where movements can operate. This study finds that the 1997 constitution has diminished political choice by favouring large political parties such as Thai Rak Thai. "Independent bodies" created by this constitution; when not dominated by the ruling party also serve to demobilize popular participation by reducing the role of the people to passive voters. Finally the increasingly repressive measures used by the government have further reduced democratic space. Democracy has been diminished under the Thai Rak Thai government