Good Governance and Constitutionalism in the Digital Age: Thailand's Experience

This paper intends to provide a critical analysis of key issues relevant to contemporary constitutional and political reforms with a view to promote and improve good governance practices in Thailand. It will first trace Thailand's modern constitutional history. It will then discuss the fundamental principles of the 1997 Constitution in comparison with the new provisions of the 2007 Constitution that are designed to address some significant flaws of its predecessor. Specifically, it will examine a number of important issues for recent constitutional reform including some of the current problems relating to the separation of powers and checks and balances, political vote buying and electoral fraud, rampant corruption, deterioration of good governance and challenges in preventing future military coups. In order to break the vicious cycle of military coups followed by new constitutions and revolving-door governments, the paper argues that Thailand needs to undergo radical changes, covering not only legal and political but also socio-economic reforms, which embrace the principles for good governance at national, provincial and local or grassroots levels. In order to accelerate such reforms in the digital age, Thailand must articulate its national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy towards building an informed civil society and thus promoting political inclusion and grassroots participation in democratic governance and decision-making processes.