Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T19:42:47.666Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Thailand’s Democratic Moment

The Constitution of 1997

from Part II - Case Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2020

Gabriel L. Negretto
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
Get access

Summary

This chapter describes the drafting of the 1997 Constitution and its impact on Thai democracy. It first provides some context of Thai political history. Next, it explains the forces which converged to produce the 1997 constitution-making process, the first to ever involve an elected drafting assembly. While the life of the constitution was tumultuous, culminating in its death at the age of nine in 2006, it has had a profound afterlife with significant effects on Thai democracy, and institutional legacies that have survived even in the authoritarian periods of 2006-2007 and 2014-2016. It thus shows how a democratic constitution-making process can have important institutional effects beyond its formal legal operation. At the same time, the transition to a new monarch in 2016 marks a major shift in the trajectory of the country, with negative implications for its democratic future.

Type
Chapter
Information
Redrafting Constitutions in Democratic Regimes
Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives
, pp. 175 - 189
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arato, Andrew. 2009. Constitution Making under Occupation: The Politics of Imposed Revolution in Iraq. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Chambers, Paul. 2002. “Good Governance, Political Stability and Constitutionalism in Thailand.” Bangkok: King Prajadhipok’s Institute Occasional Paper (August 10, 2002).Google Scholar
Crouch, Melissa, and Ginsburg, Tom. 2016. “Between Endurance and Change in Southeast Asia: Military and Constitutional Reform in Myanmar and Thailand” in Annual Review of Constitution-Making. Stockholm: International IDEA, 6784.Google Scholar
Engel, David. 1975. “Law and Kingship in Thailand during the Reign of King Chulalongkorn.” Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia. Vol. 9. Center for South & Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom. 2009. “Constitutional Afterlife: The Continuing Impact of Thailand’s Post-Political Constitution.” International Journal of Constitutional Law 7(1): 83105.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, Tom, and Huq, Aziz. 2016. “Assessing Constitutional Performance” in Assessing Constitutional Performance. Ginsburg, Tom and Huq, Aziz (eds.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 326.Google Scholar
Handley, Paul. 2006. The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand’s Bhumibol Adulyadej. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Harding, Andrew. 2001. “May There Be Virtue: ‘New Asian Constitutionalism’ in Thailand.” Australian Journal of Asian Law 3(3): 236269.Google Scholar
Hicken, Allen. 2006. “Party Fabrication: Constitutional Reform and the Rise of Thai Rak Thai,” Journal of East Asian Studies 6(3): 381407.Google Scholar
Ivarsson, Søren (ed.) 2010. Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.Google Scholar
McCargo, Duncan. 2002. Reforming Thai Politics. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies.Google Scholar
McCargo, Duncan. 2007. “A Hollow Crown: Review of Paul Handley’s The King Never Smiles.” New Left Review 43: 135144.Google Scholar
McDorman, Ted L. 1998. “Constitutional Change and Continuity in Thailand in the Aftermath of the 1991 Coupin Asia-Pacific Legal Development. Johnson, Douglas A. and Ferguson, Gerry (eds.) Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Suwannathat-Pian, Kobkua. 2003. Kings, Country and Constitutions: Thailand’s Political Development 1932–2000. London: Routledge Curzon.Google Scholar
Sopranzetti, Claudio. 2016. “Thailand’s Relapse: The Implications of the May 2014 Coup.” Journal of Asian Studies 75(2): 299316.Google Scholar
Tamada, Yoshifumi. 2008. Myths and Realities: The Democratization of Thai Politics. Kyoto: Trans-Pacific Press.Google Scholar
Uwanno, Borwornsak, and Burns, Wayne D.. N.d. “The Thai Constitution of 1997: Sources and Process.” Thailand Law Forum. www.thailawforum.com/articles/constburns1.html.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×