TY - JOUR
AU - Kongkirati, Prajak
AB - Thailand fits the pattern of pernicious polarized politics identified in this volume, where a previously excluded group successfully gains political power through the ballot box, governs unilaterally to pursue radical reforms, and produces a backlash from the traditional power elites. In Thailand, elite conflict has been a major part of the story, but this article argues that political polarization there cannot be merely understood as “elite-driven”: conflict among the elites and the masses, and the interaction between them, produced polarized and unstable politics. Violent struggle is caused by class structure and regional, urban-rural disparities; elite struggle activates the existing social cleavages; and ideological framing deepens the polarization. While the Yellow Shirts and traditional elites want to restore and uphold the “Thai-style democracy” with royal nationalism, the Red Shirts espouse the “populist democracy” of strong elected government with popular nationalism and egalitarian social order.
TI - From Illiberal Democracy to Military Authoritarianism: Intra-Elite Struggle and Mass-Based Conflict in Deeply Polarized Thailand
JF - "ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The"
DO - 10.1177/0002716218806912
DA - 2019-01-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/sage/from-illiberal-democracy-to-military-authoritarianism-intra-elite-VGc0EAXhED
SP - 24
EP - 40
VL - 681
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -