SUMMARY
Thailand was known as the kingdom of Siam before 1939, and briefly again between 1945 and 1949. Even though the king remained head of state, governance in the country has since the abolishment of absolute monarchy in 1932 largely been characterized by military interventions. Thailand has experienced several coups and in 1951, a failed coup attempt led to heavy fighting. A decade later, CPT (Communist Party of Thailand) declared its goal to seize government power through an armed struggle and fighting eventually escalated in the mid-1970s. Following decreased support from neighbouring communist countries, internal divisions and intensified government offensives, CPT was considerably weakened in the early 1980s. The conflict was terminated due to low activity in 1982.
The government of Thailand has the executive power and the legislative power is the hand of the parliament. The parliament is bicameral and composes of the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is the house of representative that has the responsibility to nominate a Prime Minister (who has to be supported by more than 50 percent of the members) which previous to 2007 had no limited amount of tenures. However, after a judicial amendment in 2007, one can only be I office for a maximum of eight years. In addition to the nomination of a Prime Minister, the House of Representatives has the ability to accept new laws. However, the Senate has a veto and thus the political clout to abolish laws accepted by the House of Representatives. In addition, the Senate has the right to remove decision makers from office. The head of the state is the king, Vajiralongkorn, who took power after the death of his father, Buhmibol Adulyadey, the monarch between 1948 and 2016. Due to the strong influence of the military in Thai politics, a democratization process was initiated in the early 1990’s with the victory of a party headed by influential businessmen. However, inflation and corruption did lower the credibility of the free market that had been swiftly introduced in Thailand. As a result of the turmoil, the military staged a coup in February 1991 and the Junta established the National Peacekeeping Council (NPC). What followed was a weak coalition government which did not hold the political clout necessary in order to stabilise the country. The elections held in 1992 paved the way for NPC strongman, General Suchinda Krapyaroon who was elected prime minister. This choice enraged the populations which demanded a civilian elected prime minister. As the wave of protests continued, Suchinda decided to crush the protesters on 17 May. After the end of the most vehement protests, the king decided to summon the leader of the protests, Palang Dharma (Righteous force), Chamlong Srimuang (opposition to Suchinda) and Prime Minister Suchinda, for deliberations.
Despite the intervention of the king and a temporary end to military rule, the 1990’s was a decade of political turmoil with shifting governments and a prolonged attempt to write a new constitution, which was promulgated in 1997 and stipulated the constitutional monarchy along with parliamentary and basic freedoms and rights. The parties that had sided with the NPC were called the “devil” parties while those parties opposing the military council were called “angel” parties. This distinctive split represented much of the political climate in Thailand at the time. However, in the early 21th century, the politically inexperienced Thaksin Shinawatra entered the political arena. The former police colonel and telecom billionaire headed the Thai Thak Thai (TRT) party which was victorious in the 2001 election. This was the onset of a rather stable era in Thai politics until Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006. Regardless of his political inexperience, Thaksin made several promises appealing to the poorer communities. He promised to initiate a war on drugs and corruption as well as postponing farmers’ mortgage payment. In addition, general healthcare was promised as well as investment funds that would be available in every community.
One of the most important trademarks of Thaksin was the war on drugs that was launched in 2003. The drug related problem in Thailand is a salient issue and an estimated one billion amphetamine tablets are smuggled into Thailand each year.
In addition to the war on drugs, 2004 proved to be yet another year of coerciveness as the Muslim community in the Patani area in the southern parts of the country protested and attacked Thai symbols such as military and police buildings along with schools and Buddhist temples. In order to crush the protests, state forces attacked the protesting wave of people which aggravated the animosity between the Muslim community and the central government.
The government of Thailand has been involved in the inter-state, intra-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
