Civil-military relations in Thailand since the 2014 coup: the tragedy of security sector "deform"

Abstract

"This report investigates how Thailand has translated the global norms of security sector reform (SSR) into its own local setting. The author offers a detailed overview of Thailand's security sector and its actors, assesses the military influence and analyzes the SSR attempts until the last putsch in 2014 and the efforts made since then. He shows that SSR approaches in Thailand do exist, but there is nothing about them which upholds the rule of law under elected civilian rule or the civilian monitoring of military institutions. He therefore names the attempts made 'security sector deforms' instead of 'reforms'. The author argues that true SSR leading to institutionalized civilian control will only come to Thailand from within, when the current junta's image becomes increasingly tarnished, when traditional elite institutions reject supporting military rule, and when Thai people from all functional backgrounds unite to prioritize SSR and deny military coup plotters the chance to ever usurp power again." (author's abstract)