In Thailand, Governance principles were guidelines for members of parliament to
pass a new 1997 Constitution. In theory, the 1997 Constitution reduces the power of
the political executive and the bureaucrats, and indirectly increases the power of the
citizens to monitor government through these new governance institutions. In
practice, Prime Minister Thaksin has managed to exert his influence over senators in
their selections of member of accountability mechanisms such as the National
Counter Corruption Commission (Bowornwathana, 2005c) and the Constitutional