Seminar on Thailand authoritarianism: Past and Present

Date: October 3, 2014 (Friday) 16:00-18:00
Venue:Room No. 107 on the first floor of East building, CSEAS, Kyoto University

Abstract:
Since the May 2014 coup d’etat in Thailand, the authoritarianism has become one of the hottest themes in the Thai society and in Asia in general. The coup makers toppled Yingluck Shinawatra, an democratically elected prime minister, disregarded the elected parliament and introduced the appointed one under the Martial Law. The military controlled Thai politics again. The coup leader, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is army in chief, was appointed by the appointed parliament members as a new prime minister and 80% of his cabinet ministers are from the armed force officers. This presentation aims to explore this complicated political development in Thailand with a conceptual framework of comparative politics in Southeast Asia. The presentation tries to answer the reasons why the authoritarianism re-emerged in Thailand and also analyze the socio-economic condition and the elite ideology.