Democratic Breakdown through Lawfare by Constitutional Courts

The Case of Post-"Democratic Transition" Thailand

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2914745
AutoresEugénie Mérieau (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen95
Número3
Páginas475-496
Fecha de publicación2022-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPacific Affairs (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379
EditorialPacific Affairs (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5509/2022953475
OpenAlexW4293772743
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas14

Third-wave democracies have massively adopted mechanisms of judicial review, notably constitutional courts, considered key institutions of successful democratic transitions. By preventing abuses of the constitution and safeguarding people's rights, they act as a bulwark against the claims of potential autocrats. In Thailand, the 1997 democratic transition led to the adoption of a powerful constitutional court tasked with safeguarding democracy from the threats of populism, corruption, and authoritarianism. Yet since its inception, the court's record has been puzzling. It has dissolved most, if not all, of the pro-democracy, anti-military political parties, dismissed all elected prime ministers, and paved the way for two military coups. In short, against established theories linking constitutional courts to democratization, the introduction of constitutional review in Thailand has led to democratic breakdown. To make sense of this puzzle, this article will investigate three variables of the court-strategic interests, ideologies, and institutional design-within the larger bureaucratic structure of the Thai state, to account for the anti-democratic behaviour of Thailand's Constitutional Court. This piece considers materials in Thai and English

Authoritarianism · Bureaucracy · Constitution · Constitutional court · Democracy · Democratization · Liberal democracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Populism · Safeguarding · Sociology · State (computer science) · Asian Studies and History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies