Thailand PT1

• Sukhothai


  • Birthplace of the Thai nation
  • Small unit (Meaung)
  • Create relations with fellow meaung, resulting to establishment of villages
  • Sukhothai stone — an inscribed obelisk reputedly discovered in 1833
  • Sukhothai as an idyllic place, governed by a just, fatherly, and devoutly Buddhist monarch
• Kingdom of Ayudtha


  • Founded by U Thong (chinese)
  • Was established on 1351
  • King Trailok - Became also King of the Ayudtha Kingdom, Codified the structure of government and civil law, Developed the system of SAKDINA, which carefully scaled the positions of everyone in the kingdom (pyramid of social structure)
  • Parallel hierarchical organisation of the sangha (Buddhist monks) under royal patronage and oversight
  • Ayudhya's openness to trade and to the information and ideas that traders brought, may have been one of the sources of its strength
• Rama I


  • Chaopraya Chakri (former name)
  • Founder of the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the 1st monarch of the reigning Chakri dynasty of Siam
  • Bangkok as the capital in 1782
  • His reign would see the triumphant, final, and repulsion of the Burmese in 1785-1786, and the consolidation of a Thai empire larger than any Ayudhya had controlled
  • Labour control involved mass registrations and the tattooing of subjects to indicate place of residence and administrative superior
  • Reconstruction and reform of the sangha hierarchy
  • Production of a new, definitive text of the Buddhist scriptures
  • Complete revision of the Kingdom's laws
  • Translation of numerous literary and historical works including the Indian epic Ramayana
• King Mongkut (Rama IV)


  • First modernizer as he was the first one who communicated with the west for economic and legal concessions
  • Learned western knowledge (e.g western mathematics)
  • Western-minded
  • Siam yielded to the pressures brought by France and Great Britain during his reign and granted these Westerners economic and legal concessions
  • Old aristocratic elite to carry out fundamental state, economic, and societal reforms
  • Creation of a centralized bureaucracy and modern military
  • Bowring Treaty of 1855 - Import and export duties were sharply reduced and fixed, Ruling-class trading and commodity monopolies were abolished, British subjects were granted extraterritorial legal rights
• Chulalongkorn (Rama V)


  • Revolution from above (based on decision of elite classes)
  • Major reform of government in the mid 1880s: Creation of a centralized bureaucracy and a modern military, Cabinet government was introduced between 1888 and 1892, Specialized ministries, Provincial administration reform, Centralized bureaucratic control in Bangkok
  • The kingdom had no need of Western intervention— unlike its neighbours, it was stable, bent on modernisation, and able to accommodate international business
  • Anglo-French confrontation in SouthEast Asia — treaty between France and Britain that guaranteed the independence of most of the territory which today forms Thailand (Thailand as neutral zone)
  • Rejected any thought of introducing democracy
  • Proceeded with modernisation until his death in 1910
  • Western and Chinese interests dominated the country's financial and commercial life
  • Chinese numbers swelled to about 10% of the population
• Vajiravudh (Rama VI)


  • Positive: introduced the trinity of "Nation, Religion (buddhism) and King" as the focus of popular loyalty, and promoted organisations and public spectacles designed to inculcate nationalist pride
  • He sponsored successful diplomatic efforts to end the extraterritoriality provisions of Mongkut's treaties (Bowling Treaty) and recover national control of tariffs
  • However, people lost their trust and interest with Rama VI due to his lifestyle
• Nature of Thailand's foreign policy (Bend in the Wind) has been based on the ideals of flexibility, resilience, and pragmatism (practicality)
• Prajadhipok (Rama VII)


  • Mistress in monarchy because of Rama VI
  • The Great Depression of 1929 weakened the power of the absolute monarchy
  • Coup D'etat by a group of military officers and bureaucrats against King Prajadhipok (Rama VII)
  • Overthrow of the absolute monarchy in 1932, hence military dominated (constitutional monarchy, led by Lt. Colonel Phibun Songkhram)
• From Siam to Thailand (means "Land of Thais")
• Phibun


  • Gained the trust of US
  • US stationed their troops in Thailand
• Sarit Thanarat


  • He replaced Phibun
  • Authoritarianism in two ways: (1) Return to Thai traditions of social order (2) accelerated economic development and social modernisation
• King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX)


  Wherein he get the attention of the masses and gained the trust of people in monarchy
• 1969 elections established a new parliament (democratic)
• Democratic regime until October 6, 1976
• Series of coups on different democratic and authoritarian regimes
• Thaksin Shinawatra


  • A unique, and a businessman thai
  • Asian financial crisis
  • Manifested patronage system within the government
  • Elites saw the problem and corruption inside the government; hence people ask for reelection (2005); he still won with his party Thai Rak Thai
• September 19, 2006, the military staged a coup d'etat
• Thailand's forms of government

  • Constitutional Monarchy
  • Parliamentary
  • Unitary
• Thailand adopts a democratic regime of government with the king as Head of State