Government by Coup
Following the 1932 revolution which imposed constitutional limits on the monarchy, Thai politics were dominated for a half century by a military and bureaucratic elite. Changes of government were effected primarily by means of a long series of mostly bloodless coups. Since the first constitution was promulgated in 1932, there have been 19 general elections by 2001 accompanied by 19 military coups. Despite this“vicious circle,” the Thais have created a “semi-democracy”.
The new leaders of 1932 realized that the goal of popularly-elected government could not be attained immediately, and that considerable experimentation and adaptation would be necessary before a balance could be struck. For this reason, the first constitution was a cautious document that created a bicameral National Assembly with two categories of members,half of whom were elected by popular vote (the Lower House), the other half (the Upper House or Senate) being appointed by the King on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers (now called the cabinet).
Thailand's legal system blends principles of traditional Thai and Western laws; Koranic law is applied in the far south, where Muslims constitute the majority of the population. The Supreme Court is the highest court of appeals, and its judges are appointed by the king.
Every constitution holds that the Prime Minister is chief of government and head executive. A slight difference between the Thai Prime Minister and those in other countries is that, since the creation of the post of the Prime Minister in 1933, the Thais have often looked to their Prime Minister as a protective figure, possibly due to their tendency to extend family structure into the sphere of government.
Beginning with a brief experiment in democracy during the mid-1970s, civilian democratic political institutions slowly gained greater authority, culminating in 1988 when Chatichai Choonavan--leader of the Thai Nation Party--assumed office as the country's first democratically elected prime minister in more than a decade. Three years later, yet another bloodless coup ended his term.
Shortly afterward, the military appointed Anand Panyarachun, a businessman and former diplomat, to head a largely civilian interim government and promised to hold elections in the near future. However, following inconclusive elections, former army commander Suchinda Kraprayoon was appointed prime minister. Thais reacted to the appointment by demanding an end to military influence in government. Demonstrations were violently suppressed by the military; in May 1992, soldiers killed at least 50 protesters.
Domestic and international reaction to the violence forced Suchinda to resign, and the nation once again turned to Anand Panyarachun, who was named interim prime minister until new elections in September 1992. In those elections, the political parties that had opposed the military in May 1992 won by a narrow majority, and Chuan Leekpai, a leader of the Democratic Party, became Prime Minister. Chuan dissolved Parliament in May 1995, and the Thai Nation Party won the largest number of parliamentary seats in subsequent elections. Party leader Banharn Silpa-archa, became Prime Minister, but held the office only little more than a year. Following elections held in November 1996, Chavalit Youngchaiyudh formed a coalition government and became Prime Minister. The onset of the Asian financial crisis caused a loss of confidence in the Chavalit government and forced him to hand over power to Chuan Leekpai in November 1997. Chuan formed a coalition government based on the themes of prudent economic management and institution of political reforms mandated by Thailand's 1997 constitution. Thaksin Shinawatra became Prime Minister on February 9, 2001. His Thai Rai Thai party holds over half the 500 seats of the lower house of Parliament. This former telecommunications CEO appears to be making headway in the economic recovery, but corruption and drug problems remain.
The cabinet is responsible for the administration of twelve ministries, as well as the Office of the Prime Minister and the Office of State Universities. Each ministry is politically headed by a minister with one or more deputy ministers, all of whom will sit in the cabinet. A number of cabinet committees have been set up consisting of relevant ministers, such as the Cabinet Economic Committee and the Cabinet Social Committee, to coordinate major policies concerned.This development enables the government to ensure that no policy is made that is incompatible with other related ones. The committees may be assigned by the Prime Minister to thoroughly examine the merits of each project or policy for the cabinet so that the latter will not have to go into such details before giving approval or disapproval to that project or policy and spare itself time to consider other matters.
Besides the ministers responsible for each ministry, there are a number of ministers holding the portfolio of "Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office." They take charge of various responsibilities undertaken by this office which in itself ranks as a ministry and is largely concerned with formulating the national policy. One of its primary subdivisions, the Budget Bureau, prepares the nation's annual budget. The National Economic and Social Development Board lays out longer-term development planning. The Juridical Council provides expert assistance in drafting laws and gives ruling on questions concerning administrative law. It remains quite distinct from the Justice Ministry, which administers laws after they are promulgated. The Board of Investment (BoI), which provides incentives for investment, comes under the responsibility of the Prime Minister's Office, with the Prime Minister being the Chairman of the Board. Several other organizations vital to the formulation of national policy such as the National Statistical Office,the Technical and Economic Co-operation Department and the Office of the National Education Commission also fall under the responsibility of the Prime Minister's Office.
At a time when economic growth of the country is one of the highest in the region and the country is in the process of diversifying from agriculture to industry, the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce play an important role in the Thai Government. The former's functions include the formulation of manufacturing and mining policy, the licensing of factories and mineral leases, the formulation and supervision of industrial standards, the provision of technical assistance (especially to small-scale industries),and supervision of the Small Industries Finance Office.
The Ministry of Commerce regulates external and internal trade. This includes control or supervision of prices for certain strategic commodities such as rice,temporary restraints on a narrow range of imports (in co-operation with the BoI), and the provision of export promotion services.
The Interior Ministry to which all local administrators are attached, is the largest ministry. Its departments include Local Administration, Accelerated Rural Development, Public Works, Town and Country Planning, Public Welfare, Community Development, Land, and Labor.
The Police Department, which forms a major part of the Interior Ministry, is one of the largest government ministerial departments. The Police Department is divided into three forces and a number of smaller units. The Metropolitan Police Force is concerned with crime prevention and suppression, traffic control and, through the Police Fire Brigade, with firefighting in the Greater Bangkok Metropolis. The Provincial Police Force is organized into four regional headquarters which operate throughout the rest of the country. The third force is the Border Patrol Police, an elite force established in 1951 to prevent insurgent infiltration and maintain peace and security in border areas. The Police Department also includes the division responsible for matters concerning immigration and visas.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives covers fisheries and forestry as well as farming. Its Co-operatives Promotion Department has gained increasing importance in recent years by providing farmers with opportunities to work together, pool resources, and take advantage of economies of scale.
The Communications Ministry controls aviation, harbors, highways,land transport, post , telegraph and telecommunications (including satellite microwave transmission), and the national meteorological network.
The Education Ministry, in addition to running elementary and secondary schools and teacher training programs, is in charge of Fine Arts and Religious Affairs, the latter being a very important assignment in a country where religion retains a major influence in public affairs.
The Ministries of Defence, Finance, Foreign Affairs and Public Health effectively keep pace with accelerating developments in their areas of authority. The head of care civil servants in each ministry is the permanent secretary, who has administrative control over all the departments of the ministry, each of which is headed by a director general, also a career civil servant.
Thailand's 76 provinces include the metropolis of greater Bangkok. Bangkok's governor is popularly elected, but those of the remaining provinces are career civil servants appointed by the Ministry of Interior.
