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Fighting for Virtue: Justice and Politics in Thailand

Online ISBN:
9781501709586
Print ISBN:
9780801449994
Publisher:
Cornell University Press
Book

Fighting for Virtue: Justice and Politics in Thailand

Duncan McCargo
Duncan McCargo
University of Copenhagen
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Published online:
21 May 2020
Published in print:
15 January 2020
Online ISBN:
9781501709586
Print ISBN:
9780801449994
Publisher:
Cornell University Press

Abstract

This book investigates how Thailand's judges were tasked by the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) in 2006 with helping to solve the country's intractable political problems—and what happened next. Across the last decade of Rama IX's rule, the book examines the world of Thai judges: how they were recruited, trained, and promoted, and how they were socialized into a conservative world view that emphasized the proximity between the judiciary and the monarchy. The book delves into three pivotal freedom of expression cases that illuminate Thai legal and cultural understandings of sedition and treason, before examining the ways in which accusations of disloyalty made against controversial former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to occupy a central place in the political life of a deeply polarized nation. The book navigates the highly contentious role of the Constitutional Court as a key player in overseeing and regulating Thailand's political order before concluding with reflections on the significance of the Bhumibol era of “judicialization” in Thailand. In the end, under a new king, who appears far less reluctant to assert his own power and authority, the Thai courts may now assume somewhat less significance as a tool of the monarchical network.

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