Thailand’s Political Turmoil Since The New Century And Its Causes And Effects

The essay undertook comprehensive description, analysis and discussion of the facts,causes and effects of the Thailand’s political turmoil since the new century. Firstly, this essay carried a comprehensive and detailed review of Thailand’s nearly 10 years political chaos. After the financial crisis in 1997, Thaksin Shinawatra, with his unique governing philosophy and public policy, rapidly became a rising political star, getting total support from people but also facing the brutal attacks by the traditional forces. In the period from Thaksin government to Yingluck government, pro-Thaksin forces and anti- forces started the long-time lasting“Disputes between Red and Yellow ", street politics movements come one after another, governments changing frequently, and Thailand political situation is immersed in endless confusion. Secondly, the essay analyzed deep reasons of Thailand’s political chaos from the aspects of politics, economy, culture and the army factor. From the economic perspective, after 1997 financial crisis, Thaksin changed the economic decline with his novel economic policy, winning the strong public support but also harmed economic interests of traditional forces with the King as the representative, burring seeds for political turmoil. From the political perspective, Thailand’s democratic system is“congenitally deficient”: the social foundation is weak, the institutionalization level is low and democratic spirit and philosophy is few. All of these resulted that“democracy" is completely deformed into such an absurd farce. From the cultural perspective, Thailand has its own unique religious and political culture and traditional ideas such as kingship ideology, authoritarianism and sectarianism are ingrained, causing a long time for foreign political cultures to be absorbed. The propagation of western democratic political ideas inevitably would produce agitation thereby making political waves. The army is an unavoidable factor in studies of Thailand’s political issues. The army, in the name of maintaining imperial power, plays an important role in Thailand’s modern political history. The rapid expansion of Thaksin force presents a threat to the army’s traditional political status, becoming the direct cause leading to the 2006 military coup. The army will influence the trend of Thailand’s political situation profoundly. Finally, this essay elaborated the effects of the Thailand turmoil from the political, economic, international image and the influence to international relations and other aspects. Without political stability, national development is impossible. Nearly 10 years of turmoil makes Thailand economy suffered, international image destroyed, the ASEAN integration process slowed, regional peace and stability threatened, and regional international relations more complicated.