Guide Questions:

1. Describe the current political, economical, and social conditions of the country (within the
past 10 years)
Political:

● Political Instability
○ Political Divide deepens in Thailand
○ New term gaining popularity: “Chung Chart” - “nation - hater”
○ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-politics-right-analysis/hard-right-
political-divide-deepens-in-thailand-idUSKCN1VQ0JS
● Many protesters against the current prime minister
○ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51082419
○ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-11/thousands-rally-in-
thailand-against-military-backed-government

Social.
● Healthcare inequality
○ Uneven partitioning of medical treatment (including drugs and medical
practitioners) due to 3 different healthcare schemes
○ Annually, 6-7 billion, 2-3 billion, and 10-20 billion baht are allocated to 5
million government workers, 10 million individuals eligible for social
security, and 50 million people respectively.
○ https://prachatai.com/english/node/5416
● Corruption
○ Political clientelism
● Low fertility rate
○ 2019 fertility rate was only at 1.5%
○ Will result to labor shortage
○ https://www.nationthailand.com/national/30359600
○ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-thailand-baby-
bust/?fbclid=IwAR2bG00MbrdWqC4bOky2zY95dZmVrV71FMZhzDSw
_n4bZx8Bl11moVPRBqs
● Disparity in quality of education
○ High disparity in the quality of education in urbanized areas vs rural areas
(caused large amounts of unskilled labor)
● Severe class inequality
○ Concentration of development in urbanized areas
○ Existing division between urbanized and rural areas due to cultural
differences
○ https://sci-hub.tw/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23750253?seq=1
 ● http://decade2020.com/problems-and-solutions-in-
thailand?fbclid=IwAR1xCC7mzPFbHd85tM-jbena6Uf-
Tbzk7rkVzQAIr_ZPJpoVKLr7VaXzYgc

Economical
- 8th largest economy in Asia
- Heavily dependent on exports.
- Economy is heavily based on agriculture
- Considered as a newly industrialized country (developing economies that have advanced
towards industrialization and might become developed)
- Thailand’s economic development has moved from the last 40 years from low-income to
an upper-income country in less than a generation.
- Poverty declined substantially over the last 30 years from 67% in 1986 to 7.8% in 2017.
- Military-led government in 2014

2. Identify and describe relevant features of the state and society that contextualize those current
conditions

Political:

● 2009 - Pro-Thaksin demonstrators led by the United Front for Democracy Against
Dictatorship, also known as “Red Shirts”, begin protests against Abhisit’s government,
calling it unelected and illegitimate.
● 2013 - Anti-government protesters, led by a top Democrat Party leader, choke the streets
of Bangkok after Yingluck’s government introduces an amnesty bill that could have led
to Thaksin’s return. The protests go on for months.
● 2014 - A court removes Yingluck as prime minister for abuse of power. Commerce
Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan becomes caretaker prime minister.
Demonstrations continue amid accusations that the Pheu Thai government is taking
orders from Thaksin and calls for the Shinawatra family to be purged from politics.
● 2014 On May 22, army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha stages a coup and a junta, the
National Council for Peace and Order, seizes control. In August, Prayuth becomes prime
minister and later retires as army chief.
● https://www.reuters.com/article/us-thailand-election-timeline/timeline-thailands-
turbulent-politics-over-two-decades-idUSKCN1R30HR

Social:
● Certain norms and practices ingrained in culture
○ “Mai pen rai”, which translates to “It doesn’t matter” in English, is a
frequently used phrase in Thailand that hints the carefree attitude of Thais
 ○ “Bun Khun” which puts an emphasis to hierarchy
○ Collectivism
○ https://www.pdx.edu/multicultural-topics-communication-sciences-
disorders/thailand
○ https://scholarworks.smith.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.g
oogle.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1663&context=theses
● Presence of clientelism due to poverty
○ https://ecpr.eu/Filestore/PaperProposal/14a6a1a6-d5ef-4208-b583-
4010c389bdec.pdf
○ https://sci-
hub.tw/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2057891116633535?
journalCode=acpa
● https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/136788600361975
● https://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/eserv/rmit:15880/Rojanapanich.pdf
● https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/thailand/
● http://www.thaiscience.info/Journals/Article/SUIJ/10969033.pdf
● http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/Jenmana2018.pdf

Economical
➔ Military coup in 2014
- The country’s GDP growth fell to under 1% after the coup in 2014
- Only inching up past 4 percent in subsequent years, according to data by the
International Monetary Fund.
- both foreign and domestic investments in the nation have been affected
significantly by the crisis.
➔ 8th largest economy in Asia
- 2nd largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia.
- expected to advance at a moderate pace despite domestic political uncertainty.
➔ Considered as a newly industrialized country
- The primary sign of a country's transition is substantial growth in gross domestic
product.
- a GDP of 16.316 trillion baht (828,697,798,000,000.00 Philippine peso) in 2018.
➔ Heavily dependent on exports.
- The industrial and service sectors are the main sectors of Thailand’s GDP.
- The combined value of exports and imports is equal to 121.7 percent of GDP.
- The average applied tariff rate is 3.5 percent.
➔ Heavily based on Agriculture
- Contributes 8.1% of the GDP and employs 30.4% of the active population
- Agriculture's contribution to the GDP is declining, while the exports of goods and
services have increased. Tourism revenues are on the rise.
 ➔ Poverty declined substantially over the last 30 years from 67% in 1986 to 7.8% in 2017.
- Thailand’s has been a widely cited development success story, with sustained
strong growth and impressive poverty reduction.
- Compared to the earlier decade, the period from 2015 to 2017 experienced slower
growth.
- The fall in agricultural prices and negative impacts on farmers contributed to
worsening household welfare.
- The period was also marked by declining levels of employment in agriculture and
manufacturing sectors and low wage growth.
- Nationally, there were 478,000 more poor people in 2017 than in 2015 based on
official estimates.
➔ Unemployment rate is under 1.5%
- Approximately 1.2 in 2019
- Lowest in the world due to low birth rate, lack of social insurance and informal
sector employing the bulk of workforce (street vendors, motorbike taxis and self-
employed)

* Political Instability affects the economy but not the other way around
References:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/thailand/overview
https://www.nordeatrade.com/fi/explore-new-market/thailand/economical-context
https://www.heritage.org/index/country/thailand
https://www.ft.com/content/2e8749e0-c22c-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9
https://www.adb.org/countries/thailand/economy
https://dnqtravel.com/thailand/thailand-facts/thailand-economy.html
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-thailands-coup-could-affect-its-economy/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/14/thailand-election-economic-growth-income-inequality-are-
key-issues.html

3. Examine historical processes of state formulation that enable us to understand those relevant
features

1932 revolution
-Change from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333499445_The_1932_Compromise_Constituti
on_Matrix_of_Thailand's_Permanent_Constitutional_Instability

**
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r1rWpdqExtnLQ9gRWTE8OAvpS2JuWXbFJ5tW5hfZqII
/edit?usp=sharing
Sirs comments:
- why it’s a cycle of military then democracy
- role of monarchy
- the effects on them being colonized

A vicious cycle of coups and constitutions/Why does Thailand keep changing its
constitution?

- Thailand has been searching for an appropriate form of government for more than 80
years.
- Thailand has endured 12 successful coups (plus seven attempted coups) since 1932.
- Since the replacement of its absolute monarchy with a nominally constitutional one in
1932, the army has been Thailand’s most powerful political force.
- Thailand has some factors that political scientists say make a country especially
susceptible to coups:
1: self-perpetuating cycle in which one coup leads to another.
2: There is a king who is just powerful enough that people expect him to intervene over
political disagreements but just weak enough that he doesn't.
3: superficial but contentious fight over a telecom billionaire who lives in Dubai and his
attempts to influence Thai politics.
4: military that sees a big role for itself as an outside arbiter — but tends to always take
the same side.
5: there is a huge political divide between two very big segments of Thai society.

Role of Monarchy
Bhumibol regime
- monarchy’s authority and power has not been institutionalized and is, therefore, not inheritable
-Increased efforts to read ‘kingdom’ for ‘royal patrimonial state’ [ratratchasombat, which
translates literally as ‘a state as private property of the royal family’] since the 1947 coup
- Power not stipulated in the constitution to show his willingness to intervene in politics flexibly
with little legal constraints when needed
-Started in 1947 but was consolidated after October 14, 1973.

October 14, 1973

Military regime established by Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat in 1958 and succeeded by Field
Marshal Thanom Kittikhachorn in 1963 was overthrown on that date
3 key players in the incident
(1) the students who led anti-government demonstrations
(2) General Krit Siwara, who had been promoted to new army chief on October 1, 1973
(3) the King, who had been a junior partner to the military for 15 years
 King defended the demonstrators from bullets, ordered government leaders to leave the country,
and paved the way for democratic politics, and as a result was admired as a defender of democracy

Because of this incident,

The monarchy has established itself as the ultimate arbiter of political conflicts, sharing power with the
politicians, bureaucrats, and generals who run the country on a day-to-day basis

3 key factors for the monarchy’s hegemony

(1) his barami (charisma or virtue and magnetism)
(2) the nature of the government (the Prime Minister’s personality and ability)
(3) loyalty, or respect and love from the people

In the 21st Century,

The monarchy has become insecure due to
(1) the age and poor health of the monarch
(2) imminent royal succession
(3) the rise of popularly elected national leaders that were able to relativize royal power (ex:
Thaksin administration in its 30-baht-a-visit healthcare scheme)

Factions, royal populists and electoral populists, arose during Thaksin’s administration which led to
(1) the military seizing power for the purpose of reinforcing and saving the royal populist
- the military was given an order to start a battle against the Thaksin supporters by the
president of the Privy Council, General Prem Tinsulanonda, on July 14, 2006
(2) The judiciary (on April 25, 2006) joined the struggle for political power owing to emphatic
urging from the King himself

Colonization
- Myth or Fact: Thailand was never colonized.
- Buffer state
- Modernize Thailand
- “Thaification”

The fall of absolute monarchy

● Pridi Panomyoung and Pibul Songgram started plotting a revolution when King
Prajadhipok was sick
● They chose to strike on June 24, 1932
○ King and naval officers were in Hua Hin ( summer resort on gulf of siam )
○ Dispatch of army tanks through Bangkok
○ Bulk of population wasn't concerned ( 80% of population doesnt care who ruled
them as long as they’re left alone and taxes remained reasonable )
● Dispatched ultimatum to king at Hua Hin
○ “People’s Party” assumed administration of the government
● King was invited back in bangkok to reign over a constitutional monarchy
○ If he didnt reply within one hour of receipt of message, peoples party will
proclaim constitutional monarchy by appointing another prince
○ Strong chance he would be assasinated if he returned
● Prajadhipok decided to risk going back