Power And Politics In Thailand

Author : Andrew Walker
Publisher : University of Wisconsin Pres
Page : 294 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2012-08-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780299288235

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Thailand’s Political Peasants by Andrew Walker Pdf

When a populist movement elected Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister of Thailand in 2001, many of the country’s urban elite dismissed the outcome as just another symptom of rural corruption, a traditional patronage system dominated by local strongmen pressuring their neighbors through political bullying and vote-buying. In Thailand’s Political Peasants, however, Andrew Walker argues that the emergence of an entirely new socioeconomic dynamic has dramatically changed the relations of Thai peasants with the state, making them a political force to be reckoned with. Whereas their ancestors focused on subsistence, this generation of middle-income peasants seeks productive relationships with sources of state power, produces cash crops, and derives additional income through non-agricultural work. In the increasingly decentralized, disaggregated country, rural villagers and farmers have themselves become entrepreneurs and agents of the state at the local level, while the state has changed from an extractor of taxes to a supplier of subsidies and a patron of development projects. Thailand’s Political Peasants provides an original, provocative analysis that encourages an ethnographic rethinking of rural politics in rapidly developing countries. Drawing on six years of fieldwork in Ban Tiam, a rural village in northern Thailand, Walker shows how analyses of peasant politics that focus primarily on rebellion, resistance, and evasion are becoming less useful for understanding emergent forms of political society.

Author : Ruth McVey
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 308 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2001-01-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0824822730

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Money and Power in Provincial Thailand by Ruth McVey Pdf

Most studies of Southeast Asian economic change focus on the phenomenal growth experienced by a few large cities, such as Jakarta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. Big business has been viewed as the economic engine fueling the region's growth and prosperity. Studies of the rural areas have concerned themselves with the social and environmental impact of metropolitan growth--villages emptied by migration to the big cities, cultures crushed by tourist development, and agribusiness and lush landscapes destroyed by the devastation of natural resources. The literature reveals that few analysts have examined the middle distance between metropolis and countryside. The contributors to this book have addressed the issue by concentrating on the intermediate level of economic, political, and social life--the world of Thailand's provincial cities and market towns. In the past decade the rise of frequently violent competition for business and political leadership in the Thai provinces, and the growing importance of provincial support for national powerholders, has drawn attention to the way in which these town and village centers are being transformed by capitalist development. This volume brings together some of the research inspired by this, drawing on a variety of disciplinary approaches, national backgrounds, and sites of study. Contributors: Daniel Arghiros, Chris Baker, Sombat Chantornvong, Kevin Hewison, Jim LoGerfo, Ruth McVey, Michael J. Montesano, James Ockey, Pasuk Phongpaichit, Maniemai Thongyou, Yoko Ueda.

Author : Robert B. Albritton,Thawilwadee Bureekul,Sathāban Phra Pokklao
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Democracy
ISBN : 9744493984

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Public Opinion and Political Power in Thailand by Robert B. Albritton,Thawilwadee Bureekul,Sathāban Phra Pokklao Pdf

Author : Pasuk Phongpaichit,Christopher John Baker
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 476 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Thailand
ISBN : UCSD:31822021328166

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Thailand, Economy and Politics by Pasuk Phongpaichit,Christopher John Baker Pdf

In the last few years, Thailand has emerged as one of the world's most dynamic economies. Yet Thailand is still little known and sparsely written about. This book is the first full-length overview of Thailand's economy and politics. It is based on a wide range of sources in both Thai and English. Its focus is on the second half of the twentieth century, set in a deeper historical context of Siam in the Bangkok era. It plots the transition from rice economy to emerging industrial power, and from absolutist monarchy to one of Asia's most open and lively democracies. The book will be useful for students, interesting for the general reader, and challenging for specialists.

Author : Kevin Hewison
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 188 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 1989
Category : Capital
ISBN : UCSD:31822006622971

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Power and Politics in Thailand by Kevin Hewison Pdf

Author : James Wise
Publisher : Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd
Page : 375 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2019-04-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9789814868068

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Thailand: History, Politics and the Rule of Law by James Wise Pdf

This introductory book on Thai politics and the rule of law explains why chronically unstable Thailand struggles to mediate and adjudicate its political disputes. It focuses on the continuities between the pre-1932 and post-1932 periods. Since the shift to constitutional monarchy in 1932, the power of the monarch and military has endured, the legislature, electorate and, until recently, judiciary have been comparatively powerless, and constitutions and laws have been comparatively unimportant. Historical continuities are also evident in the persistence of hierarchical thinking and ethno-nationalism, both of which have inhibited open debates about governance. And the rule of law does not always apply, owing to different principles underlying western and traditional Siamese law and the emergence of a distinctively Thai legal culture and consciousness. Thailand’s governance was re-cast ambitiously in the 1890s, 1932 and 1997. Since 1997, governing Thailand and developing Thailand’s economy have become harder. So political disputes have become more acute and the absence of a national consensus on dispute settlement mechanisms more obvious. Until governance is again re-cast, Thailand’s political instability and cycle of coups will continue.

Author : J. L. S. Girling
Publisher : Ithaca : Cornell University Press
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 1981
Category : History
ISBN : UCSD:31822018852962

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Thailand, Society and Politics by J. L. S. Girling Pdf

In this comprehensive survey of modern Thai politics, John L. S. Girling examines the relationship between Thailand's governing bureaucracy and the society it rules. Led by a small elite of army officials, the military and civilian bureaucracy held sway for four decades, until its leaders were overthrown by a democratic revolution in 1973. The new coalition wrote a liberal constitution, and the king and his advisers appointed a National Assembly, including businessmen, professionals, and representatives from the provinces--groups previously exluded from the governmental process. Student movements, organized workers, and farmers' associations also emerged and were able to exert political pressure on the policy makers. Three years later, however, the right-wing bureaucracy--taking advantage of a perceived Communist threat from activists within Thailand and from developments in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos--was able to establish its control, with the implicit approval of the king, during the coup of 1976. In this book, Girling takes a close look at the political, economic, and social factors that have shaped Thai history since the 1930s. He analyzes the bureaucracy's rise to power, including the social values and traditions behind the Thai acceptance, for so many years, of an elitist society. He examines the economic growth--attributable in large part to the influence of the West--that has brought about major transformations in the conditions and attitudes of the Thai people and in the power and performance of the state.

Author : Arnaud Dubus
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 92 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 6167571325

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Buddhism and Politics in Thailand by Arnaud Dubus Pdf

Author : Chakrit Noranitipadungkarn
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 230 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1981
Category : Community power
ISBN : UOM:39015005380384

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Elites, Power Structure, and Politics in Thai Communities by Chakrit Noranitipadungkarn Pdf

Author : James Ockey
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2004-08-31
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780824842659

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Making Democracy by James Ockey Pdf

Democracy in Thailand is the result of a complex interplay of traditional and foreign attitudes. Although democratic institutions have been imported, participation in politics is deeply rooted in Thai village society. A contrasting strand of authoritarianism is present not only in the traditional culture of the royal court but also in the centralized bureaucracies and powerful armed services borrowed from the West. Both attitudes have helped to shape Thai democracy's specific character. This topical volume explores the importance of culture and the roles played by leadership, class, and gender in the making of Thai democracy. James Ockey describes changing patterns of leadership at all levels of society, from the cabinet to the urban middle class to the countryside, and suggests that such changes are appropriate to democratic government--despite the continuing manipulation of authoritarian patterns. He examines the institutions of democratic government, especially the political parties that link voters to the parliament. Political factions and the provincial notables that lead them are given careful attention. The failure to fully integrate the lower classes into the democratic system, Ockey argues, has been the underlying cause of many of the flaws of Thai democracy. Female political leadership, another imported notion, is better represented in urban rather than rural areas. Yet gender relations in villages were more equitable than at court, Ockey suggests, and these attitudes have persisted to this day. Successful women politicians from a variety of backgrounds have begun to overcome stereotypes associated with female leadership although barriers remain. With its wide-ranging analysis of Thai politics over the last three decades, Making Democracy is an important resource for both students and specialists.

Author : Kanokrat Lertchoosakul
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Thailand
ISBN : 098504294X

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The Rise of the Octobrists in Contemporary Thailand by Kanokrat Lertchoosakul Pdf

Author : Duncan McCargo,Ukrist Pathmanand
Publisher : NIAS Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 8791114462

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The Thaksinization of Thailand by Duncan McCargo,Ukrist Pathmanand Pdf

A major reform package was enacted in Thailand in 1997, coinciding with the promulgation of a new constitution. However, the country's financial problems helped create the conditions for the emergence of the Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thai, or TRT) Party under the leadership of Thaksin Shinawatra, a wealthy telecommunications magnate. Since winning a landslide election victory in 2001, Prime Minister Thaksin has exercised an extraordinary degree of personal dominance over the Thai political scene. This book examines the emergence of the TRT; Thaksin's background; his business activities, relationship with the military, use of rhetoric, and wider political economy networks; and the future of Thai politics.

Author : Duncan McCargo
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : UOM:39015061921907

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The Thaksinization of Thailand by Duncan McCargo Pdf

Prior to the 1997 economic crisis, for around 20 years Thai politics was characterized by a pluralistic political order, featuring unstable coalition governments, competing interests, and a gradual displacement of bureaucratic and military influence by the rising power of elected politicians (who in turn were closely linked to a range of business actors). A major reform package was enacted in 1997, coinciding with the promulgation of a new constitution. However, the country's financial problems helped create the conditions for the emergence of the Thai Rak Thai (Thais love Thai, or TRT) Party under the leadership of Thaksin Shinawatra, a fabulously wealthy telecommunications magnate often compared with Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. Although presenting itself as a nationalist, transformative party, at heart TRT is little more than a vehicle for the interests and ambitions of its founder-leader. Since winning a landslide election victory in January 2001, Prime Minister Thaksin has exercised an extraordinary degree of personal dominance over the Thai political scene. The emergence of Thaksin and TRT has transformed Thailand's electoral landscape, rendering previous analyses of Thai politics substantially outdated. This book examines Thaksin's background, his business activities, the emergence of Thai Rak Thai, his relationship with the military, Thaksin's use of rhetoric through media such as radio, his wider political economy networks, and the future direction of Thai politics.

Author : Pasuk Phongpaichit,Chris Baker
Publisher : NUS Press
Page : 205 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2015-11-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789814722001

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Unequal Thailand by Pasuk Phongpaichit,Chris Baker Pdf

Extreme inequalities in income,wealth and power lie behind Thailand’s political turmoil. What are the sources of this inequality? Why does it persist, or even increase when the economy grows? How can it be addressed? The contributors to this important study—Thai scholars, reformers and civil servants—shed light on the many dimensions of inequality in Thailand, looking beyond simple income measures to consider land ownership, education, finance, business structures and politics. The contributors propose a series of reforms in taxation, spending and institutional reform that can address growing inequality. Inequality is among the biggest threats to social stability in Southeast Asia, and this close study of a key Southeast Asian country will be relevant to regional policy-makers, economists and business decision-makers, as well as students of oligarchy and inequality more generally.

Author : Ruth Thomas McVey
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2000-01
Category : Capitalism
ISBN : 8787062674

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Money and Power in Provincial Thailand by Ruth Thomas McVey Pdf

During the 1990s, the Thai provinces saw the rise of a frequently violent competition for business and political leadership. This examination of economic change focuses on this middle ground between metropolis and countryside, an arena being transformed by capitalist development.