The Mix of Four Regimes: Monarchy, Bureaucratic Polity, Plutocracy, and Democracy

Abstract

           “Thai” is one of the most ancient nations in the world that have had evolvingvarious political regimes. In the ancient time, this nation went through many forms of monarchy, i.e. paternalism and meritocracy monarchy in the Sukhothai Kingdom period, divine monarchy in the Ayutthaya Kingdom to early Rattanakosin Kingdom, and absolute monarchy in the reign of King Chulalongkorn. After the 1932 Siamese Revolution, the Khana Ratsadorn, a group of military and civil officers who staged a coup against King Prajadhipok, transformed the absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy and tried to democratize the country. But, until this day, democracy in Thailand has not been consolidated, at least in part because of interference favoring three other forms of polity: 1) bureaucratic polity under military rule; 2) semi-democracy, in which the military and political parties co-govern; and 3) plutocracy, under the rule of capitalists or money politicians who rose to power through the election process.

          This article aims to show that, after many centuries of transformation, Thailand’s socio-politics is being among the mix of four regimes: monarchy, bureaucratic polity, plutocracy, and democracy, that still try to absolutely democratize this country.