Thailand’s 19th-century rulers modernized the government, the army, education, and transportation to meet the threat of the European powers then carving out colonial empires in Southeast Asia, inviting Western advisers to assist in the modernization. Thailand lost much of its territory in the process, and a series of treaties limited its control of foreign trade, taxes, customs collections, and jurisdiction over foreigners.
The Kingdom of Siam
Until 1939, Thailand was known as the Kingdom of Siam. At that time, Thailand’s rulers allied themselves with Japan and renamed the country Thailand. They sought to enlarge the country’s borders to include the much greater area inhabited by the Thai-speaking people. They did annex a number of border areas in Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, and Malaya during the early years of World War II. But when Japan’s power waned, Thailand made peace with Britain.
After the war, the Thai government attempted to deal with the political difficulties associated with modernizing the country. These and other pressures enhanced the importance of the military in Thailand’s political life. Military officers were in a position to stage several military coups. During periods of military rule, Thailand’s constitution has usually been suspended and the legislature dissolved. The king has been a unifying element.
The installation of a pro-military prime minister after the 1992 elections sparked widespread protests. The army’s brutal suppression of the demonstrations was widely condemned. The prime minister was forced to step down. The constitution was amended to specify that the prime minister must be an elected member of parliament. Chuan Leekpai, prime minister from 1992 to 1995, resumed that post in November 1997 during a severe regional economic downturn sparked by a drop in the value of Thailand’s currency earlier that year.
Installation of New Government
After the late 2000 elections, Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai became the first party in modern Thai history with an absolute legislative majority. Its majority increased in 2005. Thai Rak Thai also won the April 2006 early elections, but the legislature was unable to convene because an opposition boycott left seats unfilled. The disputed polls were later annulled by the courts.
Thaksin was ousted by a military coup on September 19, 2006. Voters approved a new constitution on August 19, 2007. Supporters of Thaksin and his banned party, organized into the new People Power Party (PPP), won the largest number of seats but not an outright majority when new elections were held on December 23, 2007. A month later the legislature reconvened, the PPP formed a coalition government with five smaller parties, and the military junta disbanded itself.
The installation of a new government did not end Thailand’s political crisis. Instead, anti-government demonstrations hardened the country’s political divisions, which pitted the mostly rural poor supporters of Thaksin against the established military and business urban elites.
The constitutional court ordered the dissolution of the Thaksin-linked PPP government on December 2, 2008. Thaksin, who had been convicted of corruption, remained in exile. On December 15, the legislature chose former opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party as Thailand’s third prime minister in four months. The new prime minister, an economist, faced a tourist industry that had been devastated by political violence and an economy on the brink of recession.
Tens of thousands of supporters of the former Prime Minister Thaksin took to the streets of Bangkok in 2010. They demanded that the government of the Prime Minister Abhisit step down and new elections be held. Soldiers tried to disperse the demonstrators, killing more than 20 of them and injuring hundreds more.
The demonstrators, called red shirts, set up camps in a major shopping and tourist district of Bangkok. After a two-month siege, they were driven out by the military in May. The violence then spread to northern parts of Thailand.
National elections were held on July 3, 2011. The largest share of the vote went to the party led by Thaksin’s sister Yingluck Shinawatra. Her party won a majority of legislative seats. She then formed a coalition with four smaller parties, giving her control of about 60 percent of the new legislature. This body elected her as Thailand’s first woman prime minister on August 5.
Later in 2011, Thailand was hit by the heaviest monsoon flooding in more than half a century. About one-third of the country’s provinces were affected, killing some 400 people and displacing more than 110,000 others. For weeks, the water flowed down from the central plains toward the Gulf of Thailand. The flood waters submerged large tracts of farmland, threatening crops. Many businesses were forced to suspend operations when their facilities were inundated and their equipment damaged. By late October seven of Bangkok’s 50 districts were flooded, turning roads into rivers and prompting the government to call for the evacuation of parts of the city.