태국, '민주화를 향한 고뇌의 길' (Korean): The Via Dolorosa to democracy in Thailand: The King, the Prince and the bloodshed

The paper attempts to highlight the background of the conflict which gave rise to the military takeover in 2006 and the subsequent tensions and contradictions in Thai politics; it further explores the ideological and politico-economic confrontation between the palace and Thaksin and the subsequent Red shirt movement? The question in the end is whether the non-elected “anachronistic, neofeudal” trinity of monarchy, military and bureaucrats will be able to control and direct Thai societal change into a more peaceful future?

The main findings of the paper sees the intervention by the Privy Council and the army factions loyal to the King as part of an inter-factional confrontation between opposing capital interests and the always lurking issue of foreign capital ownership conveniently manufactured as a threat by anti-Thaksin groups. The power politics perspective is complemented with a historical understanding of the ideology and political cultural matrix of the throne in Thailand in order to analyse the competition between the opposing factions’ interpretation of Thailand’s future political and economic direction and the impact of the rivalry between the two camps in Thai society on human right issues.