Thailand: Toward democratic stability

Journal of Democracy

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 1996, Pages

  King, Daniel ^a   Logerfo, Jim ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON   (United States)

^b Och Spine at New York Presbyterian Hospitals

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 1842588626     PISSN: 10455736     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (9)

1. Richard Gunther, Hans-Jürgen Puhle, and P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, "Introduction," in Richard Gunther, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, and Hans-Jürgen Puhle, eds., The Politics of Democratic Consolidation: Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), 7.
2. A notable exception is the Communist Party of Thailand, which launched a rural-based armed insurgency in 1965. It wrested control of parts of northern, northeastern, and southern Thailand away from the central government, but faded away in the mid-1980s.
3. Chai-Anan Samudavanija describes the political system that evolved over the 1980s as a "stable semidemocracy." See Chai-Anan Samudavanija, "Thailand: A Stable Semidemocracy," in Larry Diamond, Juan J. Linz, and Seymour Martin Lipset, eds., Politics in Developing Countries: Comparing Experiences with Democracy, 2nd ed. (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1995), 323-67. While the armed forces still enjoyed considerable political influence and the prime minister from 1977 to 1988 was a nonelected military officer, meaningful parliamentary elections were held regularly, the community of nongovernmental organizations expanded, business associations became increasingly involved in policy formation, and the press was relatively free.
4. For more details on the 1991 coup as well as Thailand's earlier political history, see Scott Christensen, "Thailand After the Coup," Journal of Democracy 2 (Summer 1991): 94-106.
5. Bangkok Post, 7 July 1995, 3.
6. Interview with Amon Raksasat, deputy chief of the Anti-Votebuying Committee, conducted on 19 June 1995; interview with Chamrian Yotrat, president of PollWatch in Chiang Mai's Constituency 3, conducted on 25 June 1995.
7. Bangkok Post, 24 June 1995, 15.
8. The following discussion of vote-buying draws from Scott R. Christensen and Ammar Siamwalla, "Beyond Patronage: Tasks for the Thai State" (paper prepared for the 1993 Year-End Conference organized by the Chai Pattana Foundation and the Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation, 10-11 December 1993, Chonburi, Thailand), 30-38; and Ananya Bhuchongkul, "Vote-Buying: More Than Just a Sale," Bangkok Post, 23 February 1992, 8.
9. The following discussion of vote-buying draws from Scott R. Christensen and Ammar Siamwalla, "Beyond Patronage: Tasks for the Thai State" (paper prepared for the 1993 Year-End Conference organized by the Chai Pattana Foundation and the Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation, 10-11 December 1993, Chonburi, Thailand), 30-38; and Ananya Bhuchongkul, "Vote-Buying: More Than Just a Sale," Bangkok Post, 23 February 1992, 8.