Description

Thailand’s Sacred Monarchy vs. The Rule of Law
About Constitutional Bricolage
The book explores the unique constitutional model in operation in Thailand. Utilising the concept of ‘mixed constitutional monarchy’, it investigates the hybridised semi-authoritarian, semi-liberal monarchy that exists in Thailand. It goes further to show the institutionalised nature of the Thai monarchy by studying its constitutional texts in light of local doctrine. These findings challenge commonly accepted claims about Thailand, arguing that any political and constitutional instability is not the result of its borrowing from Western constitutionalism, as generally thought. Rather, it shows that the monarchy’s use of constitutionalism is the prime driver of that instability. Drawing on materials and sources not previously available in English, this important work provides a comprehensive and critical account of the Thai ‘mixed constitutional monarchy’ from its origins to the present day.
Table Of Contents
1. Same Same but Different: Is Thailand a Constitutional Monarchy?
2. A Tale of Two Controversies: The Secularization Thesis and the Possibility of Legal Transplants
3. Not a Blueprint for Constitutional Reform: Towards an Hermeneutics of Thai Constitutional Identity
4. A Constitution for the Sacred Monarchy
5. A Set of Legal Doctrines for the Sacred Monarchy
6. Practices of Sacred Monarchy
7. A Constitution for the Military
8. Legal Doctrines of Royal Military Dictatorship
9. Practices of Military Dictatorship under Royal Command
10. A Constitution for the Judiciary
11. A Set of Legal Doctrines for the Royal Juristocracy
12. Practices of Juristocracy under Royal Command
13. Tensions within and Contestations over Thai Constitutional Identity: A call to arms
Annexes
Bibliography