Since 2006, the outbreak of Thaksin corruption and the military coup, the political situation of Thailand has not been stable. After the fall of Thaksin, there were some changes in Thai people especially for the middle class. They began getting involved with politics, since then politics affairs not only belong to politicians or the ruler. As people have more participation in government’s projects, they started to challenge politicians and even the government and divided into two political movement groups: National United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) as known as The Red shirt group and People’s Alliance for the Democracy (PAD) as known as The Yellow shirt group. It is ironic that both groups claim for democracy while they are opposite each other. One of reason is the economic difference between two groups, UDD is mainly formed by grass root class while PAD supporters are mostly from middle classes and well-educated background.
The reason that more people, especially people from middle classes are getting involved with politic is they want changes in political, they want to participant in choose the ‘good government’, however, what middle classes people experiencing is not the ‘democracy’ they think of and by the rise of Thaksin movement, it transformed into nightmare to them.
After three years of the coup, Thai middle classes changed their side and hoping for less democracy.
Kai Jäger (2012) proposed three hypothesis of why Thai middle classes turned
“It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party.”
It is supposed to believe that Thais are well-accustomed with the military dictatorship because Thailand has been launched a coup d’état by a military for 13 times since 1932. When it changed the government system from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy on June 24th, 1932 by the promoters, called Khana Rasadon including civil servants and the military elite. They seized the power of King Rama VII and declared the first constitution. After that, Thailand should become more democratic, but it would not. The military elite quite has a big role in Thai politics. According to the history, the incidents on October 14th,1973 when it was under controlled by the Thanom dictatorship. Students
All across Thailand people were upset with the government and showing it by protesting in the capital city of Bangkok. The reason for this unrest to spread through the country is an amnesty bill proposed to the parliament of Thailand. This bill would allow the self –exiled former, Prime Minister Thaksin to return to Thailand without being punished for the crimes he had been charged of. The current Prime Minister Yingluck is actually Thaksin’s sister and many people feel she does whatever Thaksin asks her to do. Thaksin was part of an extremely corrupt government and thousands of people were angered when they heard that he could be allowed back into the country as a free man.
Thailand has fallen under the rule of another coup, just as Scotland fell under the rule of Macbeth. Thailand has fallen under a disruptive government who can’t seem to stay in power. Just as Scotland, when the generals started to attack the king so did Thailand feel their wrath. After many attempts in Scotland and Thailand one person finally took control, but for how long will it stay? Power so strong yet so fickle in nature both countries are having trouble deciding what to do next in the light of their new power. Just as Macduff struggles to find his way so does the king of Thailand for what he will do next. The generals on both countries have an immense amount of power and have bid for the throne. With their bid for power has thrown both
What would be the next as politicians grabbed their power? It is interests. They want to fill their pocket bigger without consideration for citizens. In illiberal democracy, politicians promote a new policy ignoring their people to make profit with capitalists. In Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, she explains “disaster capitalism,” which capitalists swiftly use even aftermath of disasters as exciting market opportunities to make tremendous profits while people are undergoing a shock and suffering from it. The process of disaster capitalism has three steps: deregulation, privatization, and cut social services and vulnerable people are always victimized by multinationals. Moreover, political power is necessary over the course of the process. Sri
The country of Thailand is an emerging nation in the globalized world. Over the past two decades, the country has experienced a multitude of changes in the political, economic and international arenas. As a nation, it has survived the economic crisis of 1997, the tsunami of 2004, the government coup in 2006, the flooding of 2011 and is preparing for a change in the views of the nation with the demise of their king. The AIDS explosion in the late eighties and early nineties seems to have targeted the country and the sex industry placing Thailand on the map for many of the wrong reasons. As Thailand continues to confront its own
On December 8, 1941, Japanese and Thai troops clashed on the Isthmus of Kra, Bangkok. This involved Thailand in World War II (“History of Thailand”). Since 1932 Thailand has had a constitutional monarchy. The people elect both the senators and representatives from the house of representatives (The Thailand Specialist).
Gill and John witnessed first hand a problem that had not only afflicted Thailand, but was prevalent in many Southeast Asian countries. Instead of retirement, they rolled up their sleeves and went to work on a problem, that many never wanted to face, let alone
Political change is when there is a change in leadership or a change in policy of a government due to a significant disruption such as a social movement or revolution. If the citizens of a country feel that they are being treated unjustly by their rulers, and the rulers think that their ways of governing are satisfactory then a discord is struck and conflict arises between them (Study blue). The main causes of this discord are mostly social issues such as hunger, racism, climate change etc. and/or economic issues like unemployment, poverty, inflation (Study blue). The people frustrated by these social and economic issues trigger movements and revolutions which either influence the government to change their policies or replace the government thus bringing political change. By evaluating prominent and well-known instances of political change from the past, such as the American and French revolutions and the Civil Rights Movement, it becomes clear that political change cannot occur without social and economic upheaval.
Ultimate Thai nugs are tied to the sticks using stringy fibers pulled from the cannabis plant itself. After being secured, these nugs are often dipped in hash oil for added potency. Ultimate Thai cannabis strain has a sweet tropical flavor accented by a pungent skunky exhale that’s just a little spicy. The aroma is sweet and floral with a fruity effect that quickly takes a spicy pungent turn as the nugs are burned.
Lastly, in modern democracies, political parties fail to fulfill their classical function as being ‘peoples’ representatives’ and enforcing the advocated policies. They tend to become such large organizations with tremendous amount of reach and power that they dominate the government and become less and less accountable to the people. The parties gain the power to suppress civil cases and manipulate their way into the parliament. Large parties are also able to turn elections in their favor and spend massive amounts of money and society’s scarce resources into election campaigning, solely based on marketing and advertisement. Thus, political parties in modern democracies are no longer instruments of public participation in the decision making process and these reason offer enough justification
From 1430-1470 Cambodia was invaded by Vietnam and Siam, also known as modern day Thailand, many different times. By the 19th century, Vietnam ruled part of Cambodia and enforced their customs onto the people, this led to many strikes and revolts. After about two years of fighting, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Siam reached an agreement that Cambodia would be equally ruled by Siam and Vietnam. Ang Duong was appointed king of Cambodia in 1848. For ten years, Cambodia was at peace.
Thailand's Political Peasants book by Andrew Walker is a must-read for people who would like to dive into learning more about the political status in modern rural Thailand. In his book, Walker argues that in order to understand the governance of Thailand’s middle-income peasantry —including its fruitful electoral corroboration for Thaksin’s populist policies, the political passions that brought the red shirts to Bangkok, and the electoral thrive of Yingluck Shinawatra ---it is irresistible to address how savvy is exposed in a framework of rising income standards and a transformed relationship by the state. This book is written to question the underlying political, cultural, and economic processes that assist Thailand’s current contests over
Democracy has gone through many social changes in the world due to its natural peaceful coexistence with other forms of social and political thought. These thoughts are able to link with democracy on the basis that, democracy establishes freedom of choice and rule of the people. In relation, there are many forms of democracy, however there are two dominant forms of democracy that have established order within the nation, the two democracies are direct and representative democracy. The direct democracy was dominant in traditional society. In the traditional society democracy was direct where individuals in society participated in law making for all individuals in the society. (Wagschal, 1997, p. 225). The traditional direct democracy established equality, property and freedom. Traditional democracy role essentially was based on giving rights to individuals within the nation. In relation, equality principle within the traditional democracy can be linked to the understanding that all individuals in the nation are equal under the rule of law. Where they are able to own their land as their own property and they are free from arbitrary rule by the government. Direct democracy allows the people of the nation to participate in their political, economic and social affairs of the nation. (Wagschal, 1997, p. 226). This allows more of a direct understanding of the individuals of what new laws are being established within the nation. While direct participation establishes a voice for the
" in the various courts since the arena until the political powers. A group of red shirts claim state that "political power belongs to the people of Thailand," they truly need fairness, justice and state that "," which "Government officer and is independent from people's dignity, freedom and