Study On The Roles And Functions Of Military In Thailand's Political Development

The history of Thailand's political development is also a history of military coups.Since the 1932 constitutional reform,there have been 20 coups in Thailand's history.Thailand has been under the long-term rule of military authoritarian for 70 years.From the beginning of 21 st Century on,the regime has been gradually transferred to the control of electoral parties.But parties' ruling didn't bring long period of stability to Thailand.Faced with durable unrest,the army has returned to the political arena once again.A new rule of military authoritarian has restarted.That the army has played a durable role in the political development of Thailand,relates to army's high historic position in Thailand and its advantages on economic and political resources.In addition,patron-client relations in Thailand's political culture,weakness of civilian politicians,the lack of interest integration system from political party and changes in world situation do matter.Overall,the army has been taking over important political position,which has had positive and negative effects on the political development of Thailand.On the one hand,army opened Thailand's democratic constitutional system.To a certain extent,it promoted the reform of political democratization in Thailand.Moreover,it made up for the deletion of political function in civilian government and political party.In recent years,it has been the key role in the rebuilding of Thailand's political order.On the other hand,owing to the inherent characteristic of authoritarian,military ruling had once been the obstacle of Thailand's democratic political development.Also Corruption and infighting during the rule of military had been the burden of Thailand's political development.Since the end of last century,in the interaction with political democratization,the changes of political status and professionalism have occurred in Thailand's army.Meanwhile,civil-military relations in Thailand also have changed.The army with higher professionalism has been unable to play a completely independent political role.Coups have been the tool of maintaining the nation's political stability,not the battle of power in army anymore.Nowadays,returning regime to civilian politicians is the promise of military government.The reform of politics and good governance have been soldiers' consensus in the process of stability-rebuilding.At present,there are still deep social contradictions in Thailand.The games or battles between the elites and the grassroots will continue.In Thailand,democratic political structures have not achieved a durable development.Based on it,the army will continue playing an importent role in the process of political development and social interests sharing in Thailand.