Conflict, Legitimacy and Government Reform: Equitable Allocation of ...

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Government and Political Legitimacy parties. The position of prime minister was strengthened. The role and power of the legislature was diminished. Various independent monitoring organizations were established; the Election Commission was to filter those allowed to enter politics and the National Anti-Corruption Commission was to guarantee and verify politicians’ transparency in exercising state power. State decentralization and people’s political participation in such matters as law-making, petitions for political impeachment, public referendums on important issues and before starting of new mega-projects affecting the environment and people’s lifestyles were promoted Despite the aim of the new constitution to strengthen Thailand’s democratic system, Thai society was unfortunate. A billionaire politician who was good at playing political games used money, populist policies, and marketing strategies to centralize and monopolize power. Within three or four years this led to the end of the political rule established by the 1997 constitutional framework, which hoped to make the Thai democracy strong, efficient in responding to the people’s needs and wellbalanced among different branches of power. At the moment, there is an attempt to solve the problem caused by the structure and process of the governing institution by changing the House of Representatives’ election system and the determination of Senate membership. The attempt also includes providing severe punishment for politicians and political parties involved in vote-buying, and revising processes of selecting members of independent agencies. However, it seems that the more attempts made to solve the problem, the more controversial the issue becomes. Political demonstrations against the government have broken out very often since the adoption of 2007 constitution. The coup government led by General Surayuth Julanond faced protests of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship—UDD (the Red Shirts supporting Thaksin). After the People Power Party (the successor of the Thai Rak Thai Party dissolved by Justices of the Constitutional Court on 30 May 2007) won the general election on 23 December 2007, it became the leading party of the two coalition 119
120 KPI Congress XI governments that followed: the first government was led by Mr. Samak Sundaravej—a self-proclaimed Thaksin nominee, and the second was led by Mr. Somchai Wongsawat—Thaksin’s brother-in-law. The People’s Alliance for Democracy—PAD (the Yellow Shirts protesting against Thaksin) demonstrated against the two governments continuously, causing the government serious troubles For example, the protesters seized Government House, blocked the area around Makawan Bridge on Ratchadamnoen Road and seized the airport. Somchai’s government was ousted after the Constitution Court found People Power Party guilty in the Mr. Yongyuth Tiyapairat’s vote-buying case, disbanded the party and stripped its executive members’, including PM Somchai, of electoral rights on 2 December 2008. The anti-government protest ended on 4 December 2008. Since the Democrat Party formed a coalition government under Mr. Abhisit Vejachiva as prime minister, the UDD has been acting in the same way as the PAD did against the People Power Party’s government. It undertakes regular anti-government protests in Bangkok and the provinces, and its actions have included closing the road at Victory Monument, forcing the closure of the ASEAN + 6 Summit at Pattaya and blocking roads in the Din-Dang area during the 2009 Songkran festival. This ongoing civil disobedience is destructive for the future of Thai democracy. How can Thai society return to a normal situation in which every group accepts the legitimacy of the government? It might be said that the old ways of using political parties as the intermediary between the people and the government, representative elections, the decentralization of governing power to local administrations, the separation of powers and the check and balance system are still the main mechanisms necessary for building the legitimacy of the government. These mechanisms, however, do not act as the genuine representatives of the people’s interest but are used as the politicians’ tools to seek power and pursue personal interests. The election system cannot perform its duty in screening for good and smart persons to run the political system efficiently but rather allows vote-buying to be widespread and gives way
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Conflict, Legitimacy and Government
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KPI Congress XI Conflict, Legitimac
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6 KPI Congress XI CONTENTS Pages In
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8 KPI Congress XI Group 3: Judicial
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KPI Congress XI Program Conflict, L
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Exhibition program Conflict, Legiti
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His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mah
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Panel Discussion on Conflict, Legit
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38 KPI Congress XI Professor Dr. Kr
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40 KPI Congress XI cent. That means
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42 KPI Congress XI country’s popu
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44 KPI Congress XI Table 3: Average
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46 KPI Congress XI implies, present
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48 KPI Congress XI accelerated rate
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50 KPI Congress XI inheritance tax
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52 KPI Congress XI A good taxation
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54 KPI Congress XI Even though dire
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56 KPI Congress XI suggested that T
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58 KPI Congress XI Nevertheless, mo
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60 KPI Congress XI the taxation sys
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62 KPI Congress XI One common conte
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64 KPI Congress XI influential pers
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66 KPI Congress XI Pranee Thinnakor
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Page 71 and 72: 70 KPI Congress XI A state like Tha
Page 73 and 74: 72 KPI Congress XI The second way o
Page 75 and 76: 74 KPI Congress XI No matter whethe
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Page 91 and 92: 90 KPI Congress XI Canadian Interna
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Page 97 and 98: 96 KPI Congress XI Fundamental Link
Page 99 and 100: 98 KPI Congress XI Creating a merit
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Page 103 and 104: 102 KPI Congress XI on the drafting
Page 105 and 106: 104 KPI Congress XI tool through wh
Page 107 and 108: 106 KPI Congress XI a web-site link
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Page 115 and 116: 114 KPI Congress XI The World Movem
Page 118 and 119: Government and Political Legitimacy
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Page 129 and 130: 128 KPI Congress XI local resources
Page 131 and 132: 130 KPI Congress XI rights to the l
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Page 135 and 136: 134 KPI Congress XI administrative
Page 138 and 139: Reform of Economic Policy for Reduc
Page 140: Group 3 Judicial Review and Judicia
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Page 146 and 147: Judicial Activism Judicial Review a
Page 148 and 149: Judicial Review and Judicial Activi
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Page 164 and 165: Citizen Politics in Checking of the
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Citizen Politics in Checking of the
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The Strategy of Public Administrati
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Bureaucratic Reform Dr. Pheeraphon
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Group 7 Reforming Local Government
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180 KPI Congress XI media. In the p
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182 KPI Congress XI informal worker
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184 KPI Congress XI opened up for a
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186 KPI Congress XI community organ
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188 KPI Congress XI 6. Amend the lo
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Biographical Information
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194 KPI Congress XI Others Certifie
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196 KPI Congress XI Bovornsak Uwann
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198 KPI Congress XI Corruption in t
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200 KPI Congress XI Positions: Educ
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202 KPI Congress XI Other Positions
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204 KPI Congress XI Current positio
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