Crimes of Thaksin
Crimes of Thaksin
This chapter addresses some of the legal cases brought against Thaksin Shinawatra, his political parties, and his sister Yingluck. A series of important legal decisions from November of 2013 onwards went against the pro-Thaksin side, so lending credence to the idea that the courts in general—and the Constitutional Court in particular—favored the conservative establishment. Yet these anti-Thaksin judgments need to be seen in the context of a series of pro-Thaksin (or at least pro-Yingluck) judgments issued during the period from mid-2011 to late 2013, when an elite pact was in operation to allow Yingluck Shinawatra to serve as prime minister. A series of Thaksin-related cases illustrated the profound ambiguity of legal responses to Thailand's most troublesome ex-premier. Thaksin's parties were shut down by the courts twice, but were allowed to reconstitute themselves under new names and near-identical logos. Similarly, the Constitutional Court's removal of Samak Sundaravej from the premiership in 2008 was a piece of sound and fury that signified nothing: Thaksin, not the courts, prevented Samak's immediate reinstatement as prime minister. The legal cases that led to the departures of Thaksin and later Yingluck Shinawatra from Thailand were also fraught with ambiguity. The outcomes of all these cases reflected hesitancy and confusion on the part of the judiciary, rather than the actions of a coherent and unified deep state. Such judicial dilemmas arose partly because the monarchical network had a deeply conflicted relationship with the Shinawatras, one that was alternately antagonistic and collaborative.
Keywords: Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck Shinawatra, Thai courts, Constitutional Court, judiciary, monarchy
Cornell Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
