check-and-balance.pptVIP

Thailand’s Democracy in Transition Charas Suwanmala Our lessons learnt A quick glance on the new constitution Our lessons learnt During our 75 years of democratization, we had… 35 years of bureaucratic politics 55 years of unstable government, weak political institutions, occasionally intervened by militant coups, which last year came the last one. 5 latest years of extremely strong and stable government, but with… Insufficient check-and-balance mechanism, High rent seeking, high political and fiscal illusion, and high corruption, High degree of civil right violation high irresolvable conflicts among groups and territories, then lead to the military coups, 10 years growing up of direct democracy and decentralization, still not sustainable and had been weakened by national patronage politics. Is democracy still viable in Thailand? A quick glance on our new constitution Charas Suwanmala We want to achieve four fundamental areas on Democratization Strengthen the check-and-balance mechanisms Enhance direct democracy Reinforce and enhance civil rights Prevent political illusions and corruptions i. Strengthen the check-and-balance mechanisms Activate the parliamentary control measures. Our new constitution Free MPs from party control over their debates, votes, and etc. (162). 1/5 of MPs can propose to have inconfidential debate against the Premier and 1/6 MPs can do against ministers (155). i. Strengthen the check-and-balance mechanisms Prevent the overwhelming majority government. Our new constitution… prevent party merging in the parliament (104) i. Strengthen the check-and-balance mechanisms Activate the control power of judicial branch Our new constitution Have the supreme court in charged of cases against political posts (263), election frauds (139), and civil rights enforcement (212) Have the constitution court review the administrative law- making (184). i. Strengt