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Balancing the Checks: Thailand's Paralyzed Politics Post-1997

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Duncan McCargo
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Extract

Since 1997, following the twin transformations of economic meltdown and comprehensive constitutional changes, practically every area of Thailand's public sphere has undergone significant reordering. New checks and balances have been created, new institutions established, old institutions abolished and merged, and new rules of the electoral game put into place. A major new political party has emerged that currently dominates the parliament, civil society is flourishing, and dozens of mass protests are thriving all over the country. Yet beneath this veneer of change, the old Thailand is recognizably intact. Politicians of doubtful integrity still flourish; social cleavages are as evident as before; corruption is endemic and accountability weak; election results are contested and contentious; and the military, though lying low, retains an inordinate number of privileges. Despite the reform process, the Thai political system remains in a feeble state; new institutions designed to improve the functioning of the parliamentary and party political orders have thus far failed to change the rules of the game.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , April 2003 , pp. 129 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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