Thailand
The Politics of Despotic Paternalism

Thak Chaloemtiarana (Author)

9780877277729

Hardback, published 1 January 2007

284 pages, 46 photographs, 17 tables, 1 map, 1 diagram - 65 Diagrams
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.907 kg

This book was written more than thirty years ago and has recently been reissued—In some ways this book is more relevant in the light of recent events.

In 1958, Marshal Sarit Thanarat became prime minister of Thailand following a bloodless coup. This book offers a comprehensive study of Sarit's paternalistic, militaristic regime, which laid the foundations for Thailand's support of the US military campaign in Southeast Asia. The analysis documents the ways in which Sarit shaped modern Thai politics, in part by rationalizing a symbiotic relationship between his own office and the Thai monarchy.