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Monitoring The Pulse of the Nation : Indicators of Good Governance and Development in Thailand |
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Monitoring The Pulse of the Nation : Indicators of Good Governance and Development in Thailand
Dr. Curtis N. Thomson and Dr. Thawilwadee Bureekul
Principle authors
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Thailand?s system of governance adheres to the basic conditions
important to democratic countries around the world and Thais support
this system of government over any other form. Watch groups from the
international community also tend to view the country as a democratic
regime. Although the country ranks among the highest in the world in
political rights and civil liberties, it scores much lower in freedom
of the press and corruption. Voter participation in Thailand is also
high, with national elections consistently obtaining 60-70 percent
voter turnout. This compares favorably with the liberal democracies of
Western Europe, as well as those of Asia.
Public
opinion shows that Thais place a high degree of trust in their
government, especially the recently established institutions designed
to create open and fair elections in the country. They also place a
high level of trust in the military and the civil service, but have
much lower trust in political parties and the printed media, perhaps
because in the past these institutions have been guilty of numerous
breaches of confidence and have not operated to a high degree of
integrity.
democracy
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