Making Democracy: Leadership, Class, Gender, and Political Participation in Thailand AEC Ratana Tosakul

Ratana Tosakul

Younghusband

the communist bloc’s economic rescue and the related political upheaval

liminal and hybrid character of Thai/Western cultural interrelationships

Making Democracy: Leadership, Class, Gender, and Political Participation in Thailand AEC Ratana TosakulDemocracy in Thailand is the result of a complex interplay of traditional and foreign attitudes. Although democratic institutions have been imported, participation in politics is deeply rooted in Thai village society. A contrasting strand of authoritarianism is present not only in the traditional culture of the royal court but also in the centralized bureaucracies and powerful armed services borrowed from the West. Both attitudes have helped to shape