Coup, King, Crisis. A Critical Interregnum in Thailand

396 Pages·2020·43.657 MB·English

by  Pavin Chachavalpongpun

Coup, King, Crisis
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Coup, King, Crisis
A Critical Interregnum in Thailand
PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN
Editor
with a Foreword by
CHARLES F. KEYES
Monograph 68/Yale Southeast Asia Studies
Yale University Council on Southeast Asia Studies
Erik Harms, Chair
Kristine Mooseker, Program Manager
Yale Southeast Asia Monograph Series Editor
Erik Harms
of
Library Congress Control Number: 2020949546
International Standard Book Number: paper 978-1-7326102-0-0
cloth 978-1-7326102-1-7
© 2020 by Yale University Southeast Asia Studies
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8206
AI] rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means without permission in writing from the publisher, except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Distributor'
Yale University Southeast Asia Studies
RO. Box 208206
New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8206
USA
Printed in U.S.A.
Contents
of
List fllustrations vii
Foreword ix
INTRODUCTION
Coup, King, Crisis' A Critical Interregnum in "ihailand
1
PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN
Conceptualizing Tllailand's Political Change
1 Understanding "Hlailand's Domestic Political Conflict'
Democracy, Social Identity, and the
"Struggle for Recognition" 31
FEDERICO FERRARA
2 Thai Ideas of Power: The Challenge of Legitimacy in
Contemporary Thailand 57
CLAUDIO SOPRANZETTI
the Monarchy in Focus
3 Revisiting The King Never Smiles 83
PAUL M. HANDLEY
4 King Bhumibol Adulyadej and the Neo-monarchy
of Thailand
97
CHARNVIT KASETSIRI
5 Managing Vajiralongkords Long Succession 117
KEVIN HEWISON
6 Purifying Violence: Buddhist Kingship, Legitimacy,
and Crisis i11 Thailand 145
EDOARDO SIANI
Institutions under Military Rule
7 Assessing the Monarchized Militaqr and IG1akistocracy
in Postsuccession Thailand 169
PAUL CHAMBERS
V
Contents, cont.
8 Challenging the Indicial Coup Myth:
Thai Constitutional Courts and Political Crises 199
SARAH BISHOP
9 Restoring Center, Defeating Margins?
Thai Buddhism's Struggle to Revive Its Authority 225
KHEMTHONG TONSAKULRUNGRUANG
10 The Thai Economy: A Lost Decade? 249
KRISLERT SAMPHANTHARAK
The Military Regime's Foreign Policy in an Era of
11
Rising Illiberalism 271
PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN
Opposition to the Military Regime
12 Putting the National Council for Peace and Order on Trial 299
TYRELL HABERKORN
13 Digital Censorship and Self-censorship under
Thailand's Dictatorship 319
DAVID STRECKFUSS
14 Dances with Dictators:
NGOs and Military Regime in Thailand 339
SOMCHAI PHATHARATHANANUNTH
Contributors 363
Index 367
vi
Illustrations
TAB LE s
2.1 Longevity of political leaders in post- 1932. Thailand 64
7.1 Thai praetorianism (1922-p1'esent) 172
7.2 Influence over army leadership by faction (2004-20) 176
13.1 Level of dangerousness in the pre-digital and
digital periods 322
FIGURE
7.1 Thailand's defense budget (2004-18) 173
vii
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Foreword
THIS VOLUME OFFERS assessments of the character of Thai politics since
22 May 2014, when the Thai army staged a coup that ended a democratically
elected government in Thailand. The coup took place as the country was
going through a major transition in the monarchy The 2014 coup was the
twelfth since 1932, when a constitutional monardiy was first proclaimed,
and it was the second since 2oo6, the recent ones both aimed at eliminating
the role of the Shinawatras (Thaksin and his sister Yingluck) and their polit-
ical followers from Thai politics.
Thaksin Shinawatra, a former businessman from Chiang Mai, in northern
Thailand, had first risen to political prominence in 2001 when he led the
Thai Rak Thai Party to a significant electoral win. He then had led the same
party to a lopsided victory in 2005. His success had been based primarily on
his populist policies, including universal health care, promotion of enterprises
primarily for the emerging middle class in rural-especially northeastern
and northern-Thailand, and expansion of infrastructure mainly for the
benefit of the rural population. In the process, however, he alienated the old
elite, including the ranking members of the military not only by pressing for
these policies but also by his enrichment ofhirnself and family, by his war on
drugs, which led to many deaths, and by his heavy-handed policies toward
the Muslim-led insurgency in southern Thailand. Following a coup in 2006
he was removed from office and forced to flee the country
In 2.011 a new constitution was adopted, and an election soon followed.
In this election, the Pheu Thai Party successor to the Thai Rak Thai Party,
won an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats. Yingluck, Thaksin's
sister, who then headed the party, became prime minister. The military,
now supported by many in the urban middle class, once again intervened
in a coup in 2014.
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