Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2020. xii, 261 pp. (Figures, B&W photos.) US$42.95, cloth. ISBN 978-0-8014-4999-4.
Duncan McCargo has tackled yet another fascinating aspect of Thailand’s politics in Fighting for Virtue, this time focusing on the Thai judiciary, an arm of the state that has very publicly intervened in the disputes over power that have wracked Thailand’s political system throughout the past two decades. Judicial actions in political cases have ranged from dissolving elected governments to locking up a 64-year-old grandfather on lèse-majesté charges over a series of four text messages (Amphon Tangnoppakhun, who claimed he didn’t even know how to text, passed away in prison less than a year into his 20-year sentence). Just as in his previous work, McCargo treats the reader to an abundance of details, thoughtful analysis, and savvy observation.
The book argues that the increasing interventions by the judiciary into political controversies, i.e., judicialization, of Thai politics contributes to rather than solves the successive political crises that have pummelled the country since 1997. In short, judges are poorly equipped to play politics, lacking the training, interest, and acumen to make appropriate authoritative determinations that could reduce political conflict. As their courtrooms become stages for political theatre, McCargo shows that Thai judges, due to their socialization processes, make decisions that unintentionally undermine the legitimacy of the judiciary, invoke grave injustices, and perpetuate political crises. On a normative level, then, the book calls for rolling back judicialization, not just in Thailand but around the world. As McCargo concludes, “[c]ountries should be run by elected politicians and not by courts. Politicians who perform badly should be removed at the ballot box” (218).
Empirical material is drawn from extensive fieldwork, including analysis of multiple court cases which McCargo himself attended. Among the most compelling data presented is a careful discussion of the training and socialization processes of Thai judges, which takes up most of chapters 1 and 2. These two chapters will likely be of most interest to readers who are not Thailand specialists. Scholarship on bureaucrats, especially those who enjoy a great deal of discretion in their work, has highlighted the importance of personal incentives, educational background, and training in determining how bureaucrats behave. McCargo’s elaboration of the training and socialization process of Thai judges, especially their perceived role as representatives of the monarchy, highlights how these factors can and do impact the manner in which judges make decisions, especially when faced with political cases. They feel compelled to adjudicate in a way that protects and supports loyalty to the monarchy in line with their own perceptions of what is meant to be a devoted subject of the king, which may include interpretations of justice only loosely based on law. Such behaviour falls far short of resolving the challenges facing Thailand today.
Consecutive chapters detail the court cases of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, Katha Pajariyapong, and Jon Ungpakorn, as well as cases levelled against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. McCargo attended the trials of Somyot, Katha, and Jon, and, reporting the courtroom activities, uses them to display how judicialization results in injustices. The details are relatively dense, and Thailand specialists will be interested in the appearance and behaviour of familiar characters like Anon Numpa (alternatively spelled Anon Nampa, a lawyer and leader of the 2020 protests) and Ratsada Manuratsada (a prominent human rights lawyer), but those unfamiliar with Thailand may struggle to connect the courtroom narrative with the broader arguments about judicialization due to the high level of detail provided. The court cases, while providing important insight into the ways in which political trials play out in Thailand, can seem quite specific to the Thai context, leaving scholars who pick up the book from an outside perspective less able to draw lessons from the interplay between the defense lawyers and the Thai judges. McCargo’s effort to detail these trials, though, is an important service for a broader mission of recording and analyzing important events in Thai history. Generalizable messages are easier to extract from chapter 7 on Thaksin Shinawatra’s criminal trials.
The book’s overall argument engages with debates in Thai studies about the nature of the judiciary, especially recent work that argues the judiciary is part of the “deep state” that opposes civilian administrations. McCargo’s contention is that, while we have seen judicialization of politics, the judiciary does not actively seek to intervene in politics; their decisions in political cases are the result of courts being grudgingly dragged into the political sphere. Upon being forced to determine political cases, judges, including those in the Constitutional Court, pursue what they perceive to be the national interest, resulting in varied rulings, both for and against civilian governments depending upon the “prevailing political winds” (182). Thus, the judiciary should not be considered unconditionally part of a “deep state” committed to undermining civilian rule. McCargo persuasively argues that, while the judiciary has multiple shortcomings, “the trouble is politics: weaponized judges engage in politics by other means, usually both ineptly and reluctantly” (217).
Overall, this book is an important contribution that will be cited for years to come. For those interested in the field of judicialization of politics, the book provides a detailed case study of the ways in which judicialization inflames rather than solves political conflict. For Thailand specialists, the book speaks to contemporary academic debates and provides rich detail regarding both judges and important court cases, making this a worthy addition to their libraries.
Jacob I. Ricks
Singapore Management University, Singapore