The Study And Inspirations Of Thailand’s Democratic Predicament

Another military coup d’etat took place in Thai on May 20,2014, the army has hit the reset button of Thai democracy by establishing a transitional government. History is always surprisingly similar, ever since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in 1932 by the form of bourgeois revolution, the Thai democracy has stepped into a vicious cycle:military coup d’etat-Civilian election-Political infighting- military coup d’etat. The reasons why Thai democracy has been on such a bumpy road are various. On one hand, the Thai political and cultural traditions are incompatible with the modern democratic framework. On the other hand, the rapid transition of Thai and the problems caused by that has made it almost impossible for Thai to solve by turning to modern democracy. According to Huntinton, the developing countries has been through "the third wave of democratization", so the difficulties Thai encountered are both special and universal. This article will briefly review the course of Thai democracy and analyze the reasons from different angles, then hopefully this can shed some light on the democratic course of others. This matter will be addressed in three steps:In the first chapter, by reviewing the democratic course of Thai ever since the year 1932, we can see that Thai has gone through a relatively rapid social transition,and the development of Thai’s economy has set a solid foundation for democratic revolution. In the year 1932, Thai made itself the first democracy in Asia and began the process of democratization. Thai has experienced three phases:military dictatorship, civilian elected government and a slow transition to democracy. By the starting of the new century, Thai democracy has taken on a few new characteristics such as one party dominance and the uprising class antagonism. Then there will be brief summary of current circumstances of Thai.In the second chapter, firstly this article shall conduct a short review of the achievements of Thai democracy. Then as the vicious cycle of Thai democracy is the fruit of several factors, so the main objective is to analyze the reasons. A, the antagonism between solidified social class in Thai has always been severe, among which the opposition between country and city and between different ethnic groups has caused great difficulties for the application of democracy. B, the legal system in Thai has been chaotic and sloppy, for instance, the constitution has degraded into the tool for politicians for their individual political duels. The law has failed to established a set of rules for democracy and to regulate the democratic actions, which contributed greatly to the lack of legal consciousness throughout the Thai society. C, the political party in Thai were born without righteous political purposes, their sole aim to harvest personal interests has failed to function as the channel for the social members to express political opinions. D, the Thai cultural and political traditions are incompatible with modern western democracy. Hinayana promoted tolerance and acceptance which as conflicted with the active effort to safeguard one’s right that’s championed by the modern democracy. The deep-rooted patron system has discouraged people from making independent democratic statements. The praetorian society has aggravated the chaos of the Thai democratic practices. And finally the lack of loyal opposition made peaceful power transition almost impossible. E, the pluralism of Thai’s power center has added more uncertainties to the development of Thai democracy.In the third chapter, this article has come to a few suggestions which deserve ample attentions in the construction of democracy. A, targeted policies should be adopted to narrow the gap between rural area and city and between different ethnic groups so that all social classes could enjoy the perks of economic developments and democratic reforms. B, boost the legal system construction and rule by law. C, put the current economic circumstances into account and choose the democratic form that’s compatible with the realities of nation. The stability of society and the development of economy should be prioritized and achieve the smooth transition from authoritarian democracy to liberal democracy. D, the significance of well-established party system should be stressed. E, deliberative democracy should be properly adopted to supplement the electoral democracy and address acute social disputes between different classes. Above are five suggestions based on the analysis of the course of Thai democratization and hopefully this article would shed some light on the democratization of others.