Thailand Resolve Political Difficulties Of The Transition Period

After the Word War Ⅱ, many countries in Southeast Asia got rid of the colonial rule of the Western countries and achieved political independence. After independence, most countries chose the Western parliamentary democracy. But practice has proved that the system was not suitable for the basic national conditions of these countries, and resulted in a series of problems such as ineffectiveness of government. Forced by the pressure of the situation, these Southeast Asian countries embarked on the path of authoritarian politics. Under the authoritarian regime, the economy of these countries was in a rapid development and the social structure was also in a profound change. So in the late of1980s, the third wave of democratization swept Southeast Asia. The Southeast Asia countries’political development began to change again. In this contest, Thailand entered into a period of political transition after the event of "the May storm" in1992.The way of Thailand’s political transition can be said to be all roses. From a constitutional monarchy in1932, Thailand embarked on the rode of democratization. The democratic politics in Thailand experienced a total of three developmental periods:the period of following the example of the Western parliamentary democracy (1932-1958); the period of military authoritative rule (1958-1992); the period of democratic transition (1992-present). However, although the democracy has developed for nearly20years, the military coup happened again. The frequent political turmoil in Thailand made its politics fell into dilemma once again. This political dilemma had a specific performance:the king enjoyed supreme power under the constitutional monarchy; the constitution suffered the fate of frequent changes; the elected government was not recognized for the session to another session; the street political movement dominated by "Red Shirt Army" and "Yellow Shirt Army" was more and more intense.The causes resulting Thailand into political dilemma during the period of transition from the following aspects:the traditional culture of Thailand; the fragility of democratic system; the imbalance in regional development; the absence of democratic consciousness and legal concept; and the impact of the international environment. So the specific way to crack this dilemma will be proposed. First, establishing political culture which is adapted to the development of Thailand’s democracy and training the public’s democratic consciousness. Secondly, establishing and improving the democratic system. Thirdly, balancing regional development and improving the mechanism of the distribution of benefits. Then, training the public’s legal concept and establishing a society governed by the rule of law. Finally, being alert of intervention and destruction from external forces and taking advantage of the external environment. In short, there is a difficult and long way to go for the development of Thailand’s democracy. There should be mutual compromise between different interest groups in Thailand and they jointly work together to promote the development of Thailand’s politics. Then, the development of Thailand’s democracy can get away from the dilemma.