2007/11/16 by Michael K. Connors · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies #Vietnamese History and Culture Studies #Asian Studies and History
paper · doi:10.1080/00472330701652000
openalex publication_date 2007/11/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Calls for “royal intervention” to end the political crisis that wracked Thailand in 2006 were consistent with the disposition of Thai liberalism. The apparent paradox of liberals seeking a seemingly extra-constitutional solution to end the popular rule of Thaksin Shinawatra's government stems from the agnosticism of liberalism to majoritarian democracy. The specific challenges that emerged as a consequence of Thaksin's rise led liberals to mobilise royalist ideas to withstand Thaksin's assault on the liberally conceived 1997 Constitution. Key among these ideas was the notion of sovereignty as expressed in the relationship between the monarch and the people, or rachaprachasamasai. The failure of “royal liberalism” to bring an end to the crisis, may signal a more general failure of royal liberalism to secure political order in the future.