Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: Seeking Perspective on a Slow-Burn Civil War
- 2 The Culture of the Army, Matichon Weekly, 28 May 2010
- 3 Thoughts on Thailand's Turmoil, 11 June 2010
- 4 Truth and Justice When Fear and Repression Remain: An Open Letter to Dr Kanit Na Nakorn, 16 July 2010
- 5 The Impact of the Red Shirt Rallies on the Thai Economy
- 6 The Socio-Economic Bases of the Red/Yellow Divide: A Statistical Analysis
- 7 The Ineffable Rightness of Conspiracy: Thailand's Democrat-ministered State and the Negation of Red Shirt Politics
- 8 A New Politics of Desire and Disintegration in Thailand
- 9 Notes towards an Understanding of Thai Liberalism
- 10 Thailand's Classless Conflict
- 11 The Grand Bargain: Making “Reconciliation” Mean Something
- 12 Changing Thailand, an Awakening of Popular Political Consciousness for Rights?
- 13 Class, Inequality, and Politics
- 14 Thailand's Rocky Path towards a Full-Fledged Democracy
- 15 The Color of Politics: Thailand's Deep Crisis of Authority
- 16 Two Cheers for Rally Politics
- 17 Thai Foreign Policy in Crisis: From Partner to Problem
- 18 Thailand in Trouble: Revolt of the Downtrodden or Conflict among Elites?
- 19 From Red to Red: An Auto-ethnography of Economic and Political Transitions in a Northeastern Thai Village
- 20 The Rich, the Powerful and the Banana Man: The United States’ Position in the Thai Crisis
- 21 The Social Bases of Autocratic Rule in Thailand
- 22 The Strategy of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship on “Double Standards”: A Grand Gesture to History, Justice, and Accountability
- 23 No Way Forward but Back? Re-emergent Thai Falangism, Democracy, and the New “Red Shirt” Social Movement
- 24 Flying Blind
- 25 The Political Economy of Thailand's Middle-Income Peasants
- 26 Royal Succession and the Evolution of Thai Democracy
- Index
- Plate section
3 - Thoughts on Thailand's Turmoil, 11 June 2010
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 October 2015
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: Seeking Perspective on a Slow-Burn Civil War
- 2 The Culture of the Army, Matichon Weekly, 28 May 2010
- 3 Thoughts on Thailand's Turmoil, 11 June 2010
- 4 Truth and Justice When Fear and Repression Remain: An Open Letter to Dr Kanit Na Nakorn, 16 July 2010
- 5 The Impact of the Red Shirt Rallies on the Thai Economy
- 6 The Socio-Economic Bases of the Red/Yellow Divide: A Statistical Analysis
- 7 The Ineffable Rightness of Conspiracy: Thailand's Democrat-ministered State and the Negation of Red Shirt Politics
- 8 A New Politics of Desire and Disintegration in Thailand
- 9 Notes towards an Understanding of Thai Liberalism
- 10 Thailand's Classless Conflict
- 11 The Grand Bargain: Making “Reconciliation” Mean Something
- 12 Changing Thailand, an Awakening of Popular Political Consciousness for Rights?
- 13 Class, Inequality, and Politics
- 14 Thailand's Rocky Path towards a Full-Fledged Democracy
- 15 The Color of Politics: Thailand's Deep Crisis of Authority
- 16 Two Cheers for Rally Politics
- 17 Thai Foreign Policy in Crisis: From Partner to Problem
- 18 Thailand in Trouble: Revolt of the Downtrodden or Conflict among Elites?
- 19 From Red to Red: An Auto-ethnography of Economic and Political Transitions in a Northeastern Thai Village
- 20 The Rich, the Powerful and the Banana Man: The United States’ Position in the Thai Crisis
- 21 The Social Bases of Autocratic Rule in Thailand
- 22 The Strategy of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship on “Double Standards”: A Grand Gesture to History, Justice, and Accountability
- 23 No Way Forward but Back? Re-emergent Thai Falangism, Democracy, and the New “Red Shirt” Social Movement
- 24 Flying Blind
- 25 The Political Economy of Thailand's Middle-Income Peasants
- 26 Royal Succession and the Evolution of Thai Democracy
- Index
- Plate section
Summary
BACKGROUND
In the latter part of the 1990s, after the financial crisis of 1997, but before the ascent of Thaksin, I was occasionally asked to speak to groups of foreign investment analysts visiting Thailand. I set forth the gist of what I used to say to these analysts, as it gives context to my thoughts on the present turmoil:
Thailand is a country characterized by a high degree of ideological homogeneity, with broad consensus at all levels of society on the core values of Thailand and on what it means to be a Thai. This consensus includes veneration of the king, a leading role for the Buddhist religion, adherence to a free market economic system, support for a hierarchical society that emphasizes respect for superiors and seniors, provides an elevated position in society for Army, civil servants and police, and by implication leaves control of the nation in the hands of an establishment that sits at the top levels of the social pyramid. Over the decades, this establishment has instilled this view of the nation throughout all levels of society, with inculcation starting in the schools and reinforced continually through media, portraits of the royal family, etc. To dissent from the main elements of this consensus is to be “Un-Thai”. In fact, there have been few dissenters, and those that have bucked the consensus are marginalized, either through social pressure, or through police action. This consensus has made for a stable society in which people generally accept their place in life, but which also allows for sufficient social mobility to accommodate the bright and ambitious. Considerable economic development has occurred under this consensus and stability, and as a result the lot of poor villagers has improved substantially over the past half-century. The fears of many that communism would engulf the nation, as it had China and Indochina, have proven unwarranted.
This stable consensus has benefited the elite levels of society, a few thousand members of which control what happens in the country. This elite occupies the key positions in the bureaucracy, the military, police, business establishment (particularly banks), and clergy, in both Bangkok and in provincial cities(…)
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- Information
- Bangkok, May 2010Perspectives on a Divided Thailand, pp. 15 - 41Publisher: ISEAS–Yusof Ishak InstitutePrint publication year: 2012