Oligarchy in Thailand?

• Main Author: T. F. Rhoden
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2015-01-01
• Series: Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs
• Subjects: Political Science; Comparative Politics and International Relations; Political Economy; Thailand; oligarchy; monarchy; political economy; 300; 320; 321; Southeast Asia; 2000-2014
• Online Access: http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/giga/jsaa/article/view/839

A modern conception of oligarchy, which can be housed under an authoritarian regime as easily as it can under a liberal democratic one, can affect our understanding of the potential national political repercussions of extreme inequalities of wealth. This article has two goals: (1) to conceptually analyse the meaning of oligarchy; and (2) to make a descriptive case for its use in the Thai context. The test case of contemporary Thailand shows what exactly an oligarch or oligarchy means under a military regime and the potential effects for national politics of an oligarchy based on material wealth. Utilizing Jeffrey A. Winters’ Aristotelian-grounded conception of oligarchy for the contemporary world, this article argues that some political outcomes in Thailand are inexplicable without recourse to a modern variant of oligarchic theory and analysis.