King Prajadhipok’s Institute Journal

The Right to Refuse Medical Treatment According to Human Right principle

Kanoksak Puanglarp — 2024-01-04

Humans and animals share many similarities. By the time of sickness, there was a similar distress. The criterion concerning the peaceful departure of animals makes us realize whether life should be prolonged depending on a medical assessment of "the effectiveness of further treatments". It may be the same for humans and animals. Human beings should have the opportunity to decide by their own free will. Only the state can restrain it by law under certain conditions. Section 12 of the National Health Act 2007 is passive euthanasia. It does not hurt the public's feelings because it seems relevant to the nature of life and is not contrary to medical ethics. There is no reason to prolong the patient's life uselessly. Before stopping the treatment, a second doctor's opinion is needed, at least, as is the case in the Netherlands, which can apply in Thailand. However, Thailand’s cases might perform better because there will be more than two opinions from doctors; 3 to 5 doctors should participate in decision-making. They will form a quorum similar to the quorum of judges in critical cases. However, one may think in a new way that "leaving naturally" is a human right. When there is no cure, no one should be liable to stop the treatment. On the contrary, to continue useless treatment is an unnatural act that should need the informed consent of the patient or concerned decision makers.

Strong Citizenship Promotion through A Perspective of New Public Governance

Kittipong Pearnpitak — 2024-01-04

This study aimed to propose a critical analysis of strong citizenship emergence along with a guideline to drive strong citizens in Thailand. This study was based on New Public Governance (NPG) that covers Intergovernmental Management (IGM) using the concept of Collaborative Governance (CG) to analyze the causes and conditions of strong citizenship from the example in Golden Gate National Park that reflected the mechanism of network power in various dimensions. It started with leaders facing problems to change a crisis into an opportunity for co-development of the space. However, the representation of the common issue of network power could be described under “New Strong Citizen Power” to illustrate the movement by changing the main actors or the public sector into the people sector. Ultimately, the key concept was to find common ground for development based on the role that one can perform as the basis for a change of mind to become a strong citizen who plays a significant role in the development of Thailand in the global society.

The Development of Citizen Networks Under the Democratic Monarchy for Volunteer Groups in Thepalai Sub-District, Kong District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Settawat Chokworakul — 2024-01-04

The objectives of this research were 1) to study the problems and obstacles in the development of citizenship networks, 2) to study the methods of solving problems and obstacles in the development of citizenship networks, and 3) to study the approaches for developing citizenship networks under the democratic monarchy, with the King as head of the state. The study area focused on Thepalai Sub-District, Kong District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province. The sample group was 40 village health volunteers using participatory action research.

The research results revealed that 1) the causes of problems and obstacles were the community leader's lack of knowledge and understanding of fundamental laws, lack of publicizing on the role of citizenship under the constitution, and lack of promotion of public participation in citizenship. Regarding an online society, there is no report to the police on distorted and false information to the King's Institute due to fear of being a threat to their families. 2) To solve problems and obstacles, the government agencies and educational institutions in the area must continuously promote citizenship networking to the people in the community, expand the knowledge of active citizenship to people who are not participating in the project, and provide online communication's channel together with people in the community. These will increase the number of members in the networks and also provide a participatory meeting forum using the A-I-C process. 3) guidelines for a developing citizenship network under the democratic monarchy are followings: community's leaders and people in the community must be self-reliant and implement the philosophy of King Rama IX's sufficiency economy into their life, respecting the laws, rules and regulations of the community, agreeing to resolve conflicts in the community with the principles of compromise, learning to accept on majority's consensus of the community, praising those who do good for community, including those who show respect for the law and honour the King's institute, organizing an exhibition that shows the history and behaviour of a role model who obeys the law, respectfully act to the King's institute, promoting a public volunteer's system monitor that observe the government agencies’ works in the area, and also live broadcasting local council's meetings through various channels in the community, encouraging representative’s public sectors to gain more knowledge and understanding of the regulations on procurement and rules of preparation planning. These will correctly check through the work of the local authorities.

Enhancing Citizen Engagement in Public Service Delivery

Wasan Luangprapat — 2024-01-04

Citizen-centric public service delivery has been mainstreamed in worldwide public sector reform. This applied research aims to develop an institutional framework and appropriate citizen engagement toolkits for the Thai public sector. The research was carried out qualitatively. Data were primarily taken from documents on emerging trends in citizen engagement in global practice and some case studies. Findings revealed that the administrative agencies perform various functions in government services. Thus, to advance proper participatory programs, we need to consider different types of citizen engagement, which vary according to the nature of this kind of function. We create a typology of three citizen engagement models, including (1) co-governance that is suitable for policy administration, (2) co-management that is suitable for supporting, supervising, regulating, licensing, and adjudicating disputes functions, (3) co-production that is suitable for providing services function.

They Said We Were Brain Washed: How Thai Students Learn Democratic Values Under the Limited Socialization of Democratic Values.

Jaruwan Kaewmano — 2024-01-04

This article aims to understand the conditions that drive high school students in Thailand to protest the government in 2020, even though they are socialized with limited democracy under the Thai educational system. It uses qualitative research methods through documentary research and in-depth interviews with 70 high school students and 31 social-study teachers who were sampled from 24 schools that were involved in the political movement in 2020. This article uses content analysis along with discourse analysis and uses structuration theory to explain the findings. The study found that students can understand democratic values despite not being in a democratic environment under political socialization, which has limitations in dominating the thoughts and behaviour of the students. Meanwhile, students can consider and judge what to do under the limited socio-political structure. However, students cannot understand democratic values by evolution, instead by incidents that attack their former thoughts, which later leads to self-study of democratic values. The study found that democratic values learning would occur when three conditions come together: 1) changing of external structure, 2) enlightening of thought, and 3) an explanation that relates between the current situation and value of what the students hold in a way that could benefit them. However, the political values of the student can go back and forth like a cycle between enlightenment and compliance as the result of double learning due to the clash of ideas and practices of individuals under constraints of the structure.

Conceptions of Political Representation and its Application in Thai Politics

Wanas Piyakulchaidech — 2024-01-04

Political representation is one of the most essential concepts in the contemporary political era, especially in democratic regimes. However, the concept faces the same problem as other political concepts (such as justice, rights, equality, etc.), in that one idea has several conceptions. Whenever the idea was transliterated from the Western to a political context in Thailand, the concept was twisted and stretched by incorporating the original meanings with new connotations.

This research presents the meanings and conceptions of political representation from the Western context and its application in Thai politics. It also suggests a plausible concept. The analysis assumes that the idea of political representation affects and shapes Thai politics, but the Thai political context reduces the idea's impact and its applications. The constitutional drafting committee is more concerned with the problems of election fraud than with how the representatives effectively represent the needs and the interests of the voters.

The researchers use documentary research to portray the various conceptions of political representation and its adaptation to Thai political contexts. This research also interviews some members of the drafting committee of the current constitution as critical informants to view the adaptation of the very ideas and their limitations.

The idea of political representation was categorized into three main conceptions: delegation, trustee and advocated. By comparing these three conceptions, the researchers find that the advocacy conception is the most suitable for capturing the complexity of political phenomena, and it overcomes the limitation of the other two contesting concepts. The advocacy conception presents the process that connects the represented (voters, citizens in the constituency), and representatives with the election and other political processes (recall, press) to create the dialectic relationship between the represented and the representatives. From the perspective of applying the concept, the interview results confirm the assumption that the drafting committee is primarily concerned with the problem of fraud in elections.

The Political and Economic Conditions that Allow Politicians to Play a Role in Bullfighting in Phatthalung Province

Suttichai Rakjan — 2024-01-04

This research paper focuses on the political and economic conditions that allow politicians to play a role in bullfighting in Phatthalung Province. Using qualitative research, in-depth interviews, and interview critical informants for purposive sampling.

The purpose of this research is 1) to analyze the economic and political conditions that encourage politicians to play a role in bullfighting in Phatthalung Province, 2) to analyze the political relationship of the Phatthalung bullfighting network to maintain the political local vote in Phatthalung Province.

Research findings show that 1) local politicians participated in the bullfighting sport because they desired to create patronage between social networks and capitalized on a large gambling economy. Furthermore, they love and personally favour bullfighting. 2) local politicians in Phatthalung Province, political relations towards maintaining the vote based on their political credibility. The bullfighting arena is considered as where local political power relates to cultural capital and leads to a patronage system. Social capital led to the creation of local political capital, resulting in local charismatic leaders.

Phatthalung local politicians use political capital combined with cultural and economic capital to benefit indirectly to maintain the vote from a large number of people who are voters.