CIAO DATE: 09/2012
August 2012
Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre
This report assesses the current political situation in Thailand. It first explores the politics of contestation after the 2011 election, upcoming events on the electoral calendar and the 2007 constitutional amendment. It then examines the politics of change in Thailand’s political landscape and the effect of political parties’ policies on the country’s socioeconomic conditions. Thereafter it discusses the country’s democratic space and the limited freedom of expression, especially in terms of political issues and the lese-majesty law. Finally, it analyses possible scenarios for democratic change and conflict transformation in terms of the politics of succession. The report argues that Thailand’s politics of contestation can be seen as a set of cross-class networks that have adopted a dual strategy: engaging in the issue-based politics of favour or against a particular person or subject matter, while at the same time forming a social grouping for the betterment of the people. Since there has been more agitation against the political role of the military, the idea of a judicial coup d’état has been increasing seen in Thai political society. By using such arguments, the contestation over the meaning of democracy of the abovementioned networks can be seen as a mechanism to unite ordinary people into a political force and is thus related to the issue of ordinary citizens’ access to power.
Resource link: Thailand: contested politics and democracy [PDF] - 548K