Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish Editions [an imprint of Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Pte Ltd], 2019. xxi, 296 pp. (Graphs, maps.) US$36.40, paper. ISBN 978-981-4841-54-2.
James Wise, a career diplomat and expert on matters related to Thailand, has authored an excellent and novel analysis of Thailand in terms of its history, politics, and the rule of law. Wise makes use of a large volume of documents, journals, textbooks, and articles written in English—the book hardly relies on any Thai sources, but this doesn’t prove a problem since the writer has exhausted practically all there is to find in English on the subject. For political and economic history, we find references to Prince Dhani Nivat, B. J. Terwiel, William G. Skinner, and Hong Lysa, for example. For political history during the time of the 1932 revolution, Wise relies on the works of Banjamin Batson, Noel A. Battye, and Thawatt Mokarapong, whereas for the Cold War era he refers to Thak Chaloemtiarana, David A. Wilson, and Michael K. Connors, to name a few.
Most importantly, the author does not neglect any of the basic works on Thailand depicting both past and contemporary events, with classic examples being the works of David K. Wyatt, James C. Ingram, Pasuk Phongpaichit, and Christopher Baker. Wise’s style of writing is, however, markedly different from the aforementioned works. For one, he does not take the historic figure-centred approach to Thai history, with a well-known monarchical figure as the mainstay of the story, which has been both an outstanding feature as well as a limitation in this form of history-writing and which Thai historiographers refer to as belonging to the “Prince Damrong Rajanubhab school of thought.”
He concentrates instead on focusing his analysis on the five institutions: the monarchy, military, legislature, electorate, and judiciary. He offers a new and comprehensive analysis by drawing connections between key political players in these institutions, and he deeply critisizes Thailand’s current political sensitivity toward the issues of human rights, freedom of the press, and political prisoners.
Further, the author not only uses historical analysis of the periods both before and after Western colonialism and their impact on Thailand, whether in terms of the past, present, or future, but also enables us to see the dynamism of the Thai political landscape by depicting trends in the country’s political instability.
The writer also provides a very good description and analysis of the role played by the monarchy in Thai history. For example, he highlights the role of King Rama V in democratization and discusses how absolute monarchy operated during his reign. He also explains the ironic relationship, compromise, and trade-offs within those five aforementioned institutions, which is found in chapter 2, “Between Reformations: 1932 to 1997,” which is also where the silent role played by the Judiciary (29–35) is brought to the fore.
The Judiciary played a crucial and openly political role at times, such as during the bursting of the bubble economy, until an economic boom returned following the 1997 Financial Crisis, when new forms of power in the form of telecommunications business groups emerged and established a political party under the leadership of Thaksin Shinawatra. The book also provides an analysis of the Yingluck Shinawatra and Prayut Chan-ocha administrations.
Hierarchy, protection, and patronage have been the cultural mainstay of the Thai people and Thai society from the distant past to well into the age of globalization and digitalization. That cultural dimension is presented in chapter 5, which sets forth the exceptional intimacy between the cultural and social facets of Thai society. Such intricacies are further discussed in chapter 6, “Identities and Nationalism.”
In the portion dealing with the Thai military-political dimesion, the writer examines the role of the military in Thai politics during the Cold War period (1950–1970), when the military managed the defense against communism even as it controlled both Parliament and the Executive. Interestingly, the Thai military’s role in the post-Cold War period (1990-) has not diminished; it remains a core political player as guardian of the monarchy. However, the military orchestrated two coups, in 2006 and 2014, and eventually seized power, meaning that the Thai military remains a key player in the twenty-first century’s era of globalization when the country’s economy is more reliant than ever on the global economy. In sum, Thai politics under military domination had been challenged by political instability, issues of political legitimacy, conflicts of interest, human rights abuses, and the curtailing of freedom of speech.
Wise also examines Thai conceptions of the rule of law to determine how they differ from those of the West in such a way that reveals a deeper understanding, rather than merely censuring Thai social and legal concepts through the lens of Western norms, especially on issues such as human rights, freedom of expression, and freedom of the press.
This book by a former diplomat is highly readable in its presentation of an updated view of Thailand’s internal, intra-institutional confrontations and is written in simple yet poignant prose.
Ukrist Pathmanand
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok