Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T19:16:21.604Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Thai Political Families: The Impact of Political Inheritance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2015

Abstract

Studies of political families in the West focus on political inheritance, or the pattern of children following the careers of their parents. In contrast, studies of political families in other parts of the world focus on nepotism, corruption, and capturing of the political system in a particular area. In this study of political families in Thailand, I seek to distinguish between political inheritance and capturing a local political system. I then focus on political inheritance, finding that it is much more common than capturing a locality in Thailand. Working with a database of all members of the Thai parliament since 1932, I find that political inheritance benefits younger candidates and female candidates, with members of political families able to enter parliament at a younger age, and with women members of parliament more likely to come from a political family than men. I find further that political inheritance is found in all regions of Thailand, including Bangkok, and is not associated with different levels of development or regional cultures. With the strengthening of political parties and a declining birth rate, the number of families in the Thai parliament has declined, but has stabilised at a lower level. This indicates that political families are adapting to change, and can be expected to continue to play an important role in Thai politics.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Institute of East Asian Studies, Sogang University 2015 

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

Behrend, Jacqueline. 2011. The unevenness of democracy at the subnational level: provincial closed games in Argentina. Latin American Research Review 46(1), 150176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, Pedro Dal, , Ernesto Dal and Snyder, Jason. 2009. Political dynasties. The Review of Economic Studies 76(1):115142.Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry Jay. 2002. Thinking about hybrid regimes. Journal of Democracy 13, 2135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishel, Thamora. 2001. Reciprocity and Democracy: Power, Gender, and the Provincial Middle Class in Thai Political Culture . Unpublished PhD Thesis. Cornell University.Google Scholar
Gibson, Edward. 2005. Boundary control: subnational authoritarianism in democratic countries. World Politics 58, 101–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Gavin. 2013. The Population of Southeast Asia. Asian Research Institution, Working Paper Series No. 196, Singapore.Google Scholar
LeBand, David and Lentz, Bernard. 1985. Favorite sons: intergenerational wealth transfers among politicians. Economic Inquiry 23, 395414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCoy, Alfred (ed.) 1993. An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines. Madison: University of Wisconsin Center for Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Ockey, James. 1993. Chaopho, capital accumulation, and social welfare in Thailand. Crossroads 8(1), 4877.Google Scholar
Ockey, James. 1999. God mothers, good mothers, good lovers, godmothers: gender images in Thailand. Journal of Asian Studies 58, 10331058.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ockey, James. 2004. Making Democracy. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Pasuk Phongpaichit and Sungsidh Piriyarangsan. 1996. Corruption and Democracy in Thailand. Chang Mai: Silkworm Books.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert. 1976. The Comparative Study of Political Elites. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Roces, Maria Natividad. 1990. Kinship Politics in Postwar Philippines: The Lopez family, 1945–1989 . Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Sombat Chanthonwong [Chanthornvong]. 1992. Botbat khong jaopho thongthin nai setthakit lae kanmuang Thai: khosangket buangton . [Role of Provincial Godfathers in Thai Economics and Politics: Preliminary Observations]. In Pasuk and Sungsidh (eds.), Rat thun jaopho thongthin kap sangkhom Thai [State, Capital, Provincial Godfathers and Thai Society], pp. 117139. Bangkok: Political Economy Center, Chulalongkorn University.Google Scholar
Tawatchai, Kitiyapichatkul. 1998. Kansang thayat thang kanmuang khong trakun nakkanmuang Thai , [Political Succession of Thai Politicians Families]. Unpublished Masters Dissertation, Chulalongkorn University.Google Scholar
van Liefferinge, Hilde and Steyvers, Kristof. 2009. Family matters? Degrees of family politicization in political recruitment and career start of mayors in Belgium. Acta Politica 44 (2), 125149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyatt, David. 1994. Studies in Thai History. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.Google Scholar