Bureaucracy under a Democratic Polity
In 1973, Thai bureaucratic polity was, for the first time, severely shaken by mass uprisings led by students which eventually overthrew the military government. The 1973 revolution symbolizes the beginning of the end for the legitimacy of military rule and coup d’etats, and marked a major step toward democratic rule. Since then, the transformation process from a bureaucratic polity to a democratic rule. Since then, the transformation process from a bureaucratic polity to a democratic polity has begun The political arena is moving away from “Bureaucracy” to “general elections” to become prime minister, cabinet members, and PMs (members of parliament), one has to be an elected politician, not a high bureaucrat, the majority of cabinet positions during recent governments of Chatichai, Chuan, Banharn, and Chavalit are mistly occupied by businessmen, not by former bureaucratic elites. The struggle for political power is becoming a struggle among several political parties for MP and cabinet posts. Within a political party, the struggle among politicians is for senior ranks in the party so that they can quality as the party’s nominees for ministerial portfolios. The process of democratization in Thailand is eroding the traditional power of the bureaucratic elites. Since Thailand is still at and early stage of transition, the power of the bureaucratic elites in the bureaucracy remains prevalent. In the new politics, the goal of the bureaucratic elites is to prolong their traditional power under democratic polity, elected politicians are replacing bureaucratic elites as the new political heads or superiors of bureaucrats in ministries. More and more, bureaucrats perceive the importance of elected politicians as the new “patrons” who can support career advancement in the bureaucracy. Thailand is in transition. In the new emerging democratic polity, elected governments are coalitions of political parties because very few single party has been able to win a majority. In coalition governments, governance power is diffused and executive authority is shared among members of the coalition. For the Thai bureaucracy, coalition governments have emerged as the key factor in determining which MPs will become their political superiors in the ministries. Thus, to understand contemporary bureaucracy, a coalition –government perspective must be adopted.