Spesial Seminar by Dr.Prajak Kongkirati ‘Thailand’s democratic breakdown in comparative perspectives’

Date: November 21th (Fri.), 2014, 13:00 – 14:30
Place: Tonan-tei, Room No. 201, CSEAS, Inamori Foundation Memorial Building, Kyoto University

Title: Thailand’s democratic breakdown in comparative Perspectives
Speaker: Dr.Prajak Kongkirati, Head of Southeast Asian Studies Center and Lecturer of Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University

Abstract:
On 22 May 2014, the coup group led by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, Commander of the Royal Thai Army, launched a military coup d’état against the caretaker government of Thailand led by Yingluck Shinwatra, following six months of political paralysis and street violence. The military established a junta called National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to govern the nation with strong rules. The NCPO later issued an interim constitution granting itself amnesty and absolute power over other institutions. The NCPO also established a military dominated national legislature which subsequently unanimously voted General Prayuth as a new prime minister of Thailand. The 2014 coup effectively led to another democratic breakdown in polarized Thailand, a country that used to be known as a model of democracy in Southeast Asia. This short paper explores the causes and consequences of the latest democratic breakdown in Thailand, with comparative perspectives with its neighbouring countries in the region.

Bio Note:
Prajak Kongkirati is lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University and is the executive board member of the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Science and Humanities textbooks Project, Thailand. He is also editorial board of the Journal of Political Science of Thammasat University, and Asian Democracy Review. Currently, he is Head of Southeast Asian Studies Center, East Asian Institute, Thammasat University.
He has been involved in many research projects and has published widely in the field of Thai politics, conflict and violence, party and electoral politics, democratization, and social movements. His comments on Thai politics have been regularly appeared in many Thai-language newspapers, as well as the Bangkok Post, the Nation, New York Times, and other media. His book, And Then The Movement Emerged: Cultural Politics of Thai Students and Intellectuals Movements before the October 14 Uprising (Thammasat University Press, 2005), received the Toyota Foundation’s Best Book award of 2005 in the field of social sciences in Thailand. Prajak received his MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008, and Ph.D. from the Department of Political and Social Change, ANU in 2013, with a dissertation titled “Bosses, Bullets and Ballots: Electoral Violence and Democracy in Thailand, 1975-2011.” His study has been supported by the Australian Leadership Award (ALA) of AusAID. His latest book is The Not-So-Bloody Election: Violence, Democracy and the Historic July 3, 2011 Election (Kobfai, 2013).

Moderator: Mario Lopez, CSEAS, Kyoto University