{"id":484,"date":"2006-09-25T03:29:41","date_gmt":"2006-09-25T07:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=484"},"modified":"2018-08-20T20:10:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T00:10:36","slug":"monday-september-25-2006-democracy-in-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=484","title":{"rendered":"Monday, September 25, 2006 \u2014 Democracy in Thailand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soraj Honglaradom, at the Phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy depart\u00adment of the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Chu\u00adla\u00adlongko\u00adrn Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty, Bangkok, has gra\u00adcious\u00adly allowed me to quote his e\u2011mail con\u00adcern\u00ading the coup in Thailand:<\/span><\/p>\n

The coup d\u2019e\u00adtat was per\u00adpe\u00adtrat\u00aded by a group of offi\u00adcers who are dis\u00adat\u00adis\u00adfied with the Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Thaksin Shi\u00adnawa\u00adtra, who has gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded such an intense amount of con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsies in Thai\u00adland as has nev\u00ader been expe\u00adri\u00adenced before. The tran\u00adsi\u00adtion process is going on smooth\u00adly and there is no vio\u00adlence. At the time of writ\u00ading this mail, every\u00adthing appears calm. The \u201cReform Group for Democ\u00adra\u00adcy under Monar\u00adchy\u201d, as the group calls itself, has declared today (Sept.20) to be a hol\u00adi\u00adday and so I am writ\u00ading this from home. Many peo\u00adple that I know actu\u00adal\u00adly wel\u00adcome the event, as they are fed up with the regime of the Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter. From my past expe\u00adri\u00adences with pre\u00advi\u00adous Thai coups, what will hap\u00adpen next is prob\u00ada\u00adbly that the Reform Group will name an inter\u00adim Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter. A new char\u00adter will be draft\u00aded (the much vaunt\u00aded Con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion of 1997 last\u00aded only nine years), and final\u00adly a gen\u00ader\u00adal elec\u00adtion will be called. No one knows exact\u00adly when this will hap\u00adpen, but my guess is that we will expect a gen\u00ader\u00adal elec\u00adtion with\u00adin a year. This is only my guess: things have a way of unrav\u00adel\u00adling them\u00adselves in unex\u00adpect\u00aded ways.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Saro\u00adj\u2019s com\u00adment rings true to me. It seems to fit the oth\u00ader reports I\u2019ve gotten.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter Thaksin just hap\u00adpened to be the rich\u00adest man in the coun\u00adtry makes it plain that his regime was \u201cdemo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic\u201d in name only. That is not what hap\u00adpens in gen\u00aduine democ\u00adra\u00adcies. It is clear\u00adly no real loss to the world demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic move\u00adment that he has been oust\u00aded, even though the prece\u00addent of mil\u00adi\u00adtary action is extreme\u00adly dam\u00adag\u00ading. But Thai\u00adland is still left in the posi\u00adtion of hav\u00ading no real demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic infrastructure.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we ana\u00adlyze the degree of demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic prac\u00adtice in a coun\u00adtry, the first thing we should ask is not \u201cis the head of state elect\u00aded?\u201d . It is more fruit\u00adful to ask \u201cis local gov\u00adern\u00adment the result of gen\u00aduine elec\u00adtions, and does each high\u00ader lev\u00adel of author\u00adi\u00adty rest on demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic under\u00adpin\u00adings on a low\u00ader lev\u00adel?\u201d In a func\u00adtion\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcy, a head of state gets into their role by work\u00ading their way through lay\u00aders of pub\u00adlic ser\u00advice, until they have proven them\u00adself respon\u00adsi\u00adble to larg\u00ader and larg\u00ader elec\u00adtorates. The most suc\u00adcess\u00adful nation\u00adal democ\u00adra\u00adcies were built on foun\u00adda\u00adtions of demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic process on the local lev\u00adel. It is not a \u201ctop-down\u201d process. This is why Amer\u00adi\u00adca\u2019s plans to con\u00adquer coun\u00adtries and scream dec\u00adla\u00adra\u00adtions of democ\u00adra\u00adcy at them are doomed to failure.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is an under\u00adly\u00ading web of demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic prac\u00adtice that dis\u00adtin\u00adguish\u00ades pol\u00adi\u00adtics in a func\u00adtion\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcy from the kind of pup\u00adpet show where a pow\u00ader\u00adful gen\u00ader\u00adal, gang\u00adster, or bil\u00adlion\u00adaire is sim\u00adply hand\u00aded the man\u00adtle of pow\u00ader, and then redis\u00adtrib\u00adutes loot and priv\u00adi\u00adleges to his cronies. The demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic infra\u00adstruc\u00adture does not make cor\u00adrup\u00adtion impos\u00adsi\u00adble, but it tames and lim\u00adits it. Thus, for exam\u00adple, Canada\u2019s Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter lost the lead\u00ader\u00adship of his par\u00adty, and his rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion, when he was caught in some cor\u00adrupt trans\u00adac\u00adtions that some\u00adone like Thaksin would con\u00adsid\u00ader insignif\u00adi\u00adcant pock\u00adet change. Thaksin was sub\u00adject to no such lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions. The elec\u00adtoral process gave him a blank check with which to exer\u00adcise pow\u00ader at whim. My guess is that Thaksin under\u00adstood his posi\u00adtion as Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter as being noth\u00ading but an exten\u00adsion of his busi\u00adness empire, adding chaiman\u00adship of Thai\u00adland, Inc., to his list of cor\u00adpo\u00adrate directorships.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exis\u00adtence of such shell democ\u00adra\u00adcies or mock democ\u00adra\u00adcies is more of a hin\u00addrance to evolv\u00ading func\u00adtion\u00ading democ\u00adra\u00adcies than out\u00adright dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship. With a crude dic\u00adta\u00adtor\u00adship, the prob\u00adlem and the alter\u00adna\u00adtive are clear. With shell democ\u00adra\u00adcies, ordi\u00adnary peo\u00adple are left with the impres\u00adsion that this kind of \u201cbig man\u201d autoc\u00adra\u00adcy is what the word \u201cdemoc\u00adra\u00adcy\u201d is sup\u00adposed to mean, and so the idea of democ\u00adra\u00adcy itself falls into disrepute.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have been strug\u00adgling with this prob\u00adlem for two cen\u00adturies, now. But even\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adly, the real dynam\u00adics of the process will become gen\u00ader\u00adal knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soraj Honglaradom, at the Phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy depart\u00adment of the Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Chu\u00adla\u00adlongko\u00adrn Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty, Bangkok, has gra\u00adcious\u00adly allowed me to quote his e\u2011mail con\u00adcern\u00ading the coup in Thai\u00adland: The coup d\u2019e\u00adtat was per\u00adpe\u00adtrat\u00aded by a group of offi\u00adcers who are dis\u00adat\u00adis\u00adfied with \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-au-blog-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9431,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/9431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}