1st pointIt is interesting reading Ajarn Kasien's Article (I'm sorry, it's in Thai) about "democracy". It has been many decades since scholars, both Southeast Asians and non-Southeast Asians, are trying to answer the question: Are Southeast Asian countries suitable for democracy?
I think there are several questions we need to ask in order to answer such a question;
- What is democracy?
- Is there anything called 'relativism of democracy'?
- What does it take to be a democratic country?
- etc. etc.
2nd point
New Mandala has posted a summary from the International Conference on Thai Studies on Handley panel. Very interesting.
But, what is 'network monarchy'?
Is it a contemporary phenomenon or kings set up this kind of network before?
Ajarn McCargo's phrase got so famous!
I think it's the 2oth-21st century phenomenon. If you don't count King Chula's family network against the Bunnags.
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2 comments:
What is the difference between Southeast Asia countries and the rest of the world, in a way that influences democracy?
One aspect that I think effects democracy is the population.
As we can see from elections, democracy is based on the "majority rule". The decision then depends on the majority vote. It is a simple and effective way to solve issues. However, the drawback of this process is the absence of the minority vote. It would not affect regular nations. But in reality countries like China and Russia, who have a very large number of populations, would definitely be affected. The United States of America is one of the nations, who fall into the category. However, America has a states system. The states act like an individual country. This system reduces the trouble of the democracy drawback to some extent.
The only reason I can think of why Thailand is not appropriate for democracy is that we are too attached to the idea that the royal family is the ruler of the country.
That is the only difference of Thailand and other countries related to the appliance of democracy that I could figure out.
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