New political parties in Thailand: A case study of the Palang Dharma Party and the New Aspiration Party

Despite recent changes in Thailand toward a more democratic system, the scholarly descriptions of Thai political parties have not changed substantially. Scholars of Thai parties continue to describe them as lacking extensive organizations, democratic decision-making procedures, clear party ideologies, and unity. I have compared the New Aspiration Party (NAP) and the Palang Dharma Party (PDP) against a model derived from the scholarly literature, what I term the "classic" party model. I have focused on five characteristics: party organization size, party organization continuity, internal decision-making procedures, party policy platforms, and the activities of factions within each party.;I conclude that despite intentions to the contrary, the NAP remains similar to the classic party model in these five respects except for a greater commitment to party policy. The PDP's success in building a more innovative party has been mixed: the party's organization is extensive, and there is a greater commitment to policy, but the party's internal decision-making procedures are only somewhat democratic. The party has also experienced a break down of party discipline due to factional infighting.;In general, the Thai party system remains composed of mostly classic style parties. This is due to the historical dominance of the bureaucracy vis-a-vis parties, the legal framework for party competition that gives candidates distinct advantages over parties, the political norm of participation through factions, and the prevalence of linkages between candidates and voters based on personal patronage activities. Although this study largely confirms the conventional wisdom about Thai parties, I speculate that Thai parties, despite their weaknesses, may still contribute to democratization because they are active in elections and because of the pragmatism of their party policy platforms.