Academic

Ginsburg on the Thai Constitution

By Lawrence Solum

Tom Ginsburg (University of Chicago Law School) has posted Constitutional Afterlife: The Continuing Impact of Thailand's Post-Political Constitution (International Journal of Constitutional Law, January 2009) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract

Thailand's constitution of 1997 introduced profound changes into the country's governance, creating a "postpolitical" democratic structure in which an intricate array of guardian institutions served to limit the role of elected politicians. Ultimately, the constitutional structure was undermined in a military coup against populist billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, who had taken over many of the institutions designed to constrain political power. Nonetheless, the 1997 constitution appears to be having a significant afterlife, in that its institutional innovations have survived the enactment of a new Constitution and continue to constrain the political process. This article describes the Thai situation and speculates on the conditions for constitutional afterlife. Thailand's continuing political crisis, alas, suggests that the particular institutional innovations of 1997 have not been sufficient to channel political contestation.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on November 28, 2008 (boomark / email).