This study challenges the prevailing view that Thailand's democratization process in the 1990s was led by the active middle class. It presents an alternative explanation, examining certain 'passive' forces. The author argues the need to break free from the spell of the assumption that the middle class is pro-democracy and turn attention toward anti-democratization forces because the pace of political democratization was slowed down by the presence of such forces. This book will emphasize the fresh point of view that democratization was advanced by appeasement of the forces that were reluctant to democratization.

Awards

The Japanese original of this book won an Ohira Masayoshi Memorial Prize in 2003.

About Editors and Authors

TAMADA Yoshifumi is a Japanese political scientist who is Professor in the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University. His field of research is area studies in Thailand. He is also the Chairman of the Thai Society, and Director of the Southeast Asian Society, the Asian Political Science Society and the Comparative Political Science Society. He graduated from the Faculty of Law, Kyoto University, in 1981, and completed an MA in Comparative Politics at the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University, in 1983. He began his career in 1987 as Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law and Literature, Ehime University, and later served as Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies at Kyoto University from 1998 before taking on his current position in 2005.

Table of contents