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Coup, King, Crisis. A Critical Interregnum in Thailand PDF

396 Pages·2020·43.657 MB·English
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Coup, King, Crisis | II r I I I I 1. I I I I r r| » 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 r I | 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. ix

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