When the Walls Come Crumbling Down: The Monarchy and Thai-style Democracy

Abstract

Although many people date critical commentary on the Thai monarchy to Paul Handley's explosive biography The King Never Smiles: A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, this article demonstrates the existence of a consistently critical body of work, in the English language, that emerged contemporaneously with the king's growing stature from the 1980s. It also considers the conditions that have led to wider and more vocal criticisms since the coup of 2006. The primary focus is an exploration of new contributions to this critical commentary by the authors of the edited collection Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand. It identifies tensions across the chapters, including different emphases on liberalism and conservatism, and on the symbolic functioning of the monarchy.

Key Words:

• Thai monarchy
• Thai-style democracy
• virtual deity
• etho-politics

Notes

The work of Porphant (2008) has been influential in opening up discussion on royal wealth.