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Constitutional Struggles and Polarised Identities in Thailand: The Constitutional Court and the Gravitational Pull of Thai-Ness upon Liberal Constitutionalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Rawin Leelapatana Open the ORCID record for Rawin Leelapatana [Opens in a new window]  and
Suprawee Asanasak
Rawin Leelapatana
Affiliation:
Faculty of law, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Suprawee Asanasak
Affiliation:
Faculty of law, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand
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Abstract

This article interrogates Thailand’s struggle between two conflicting constitutional identities, the identities of Thai-ness and liberal democracies, by examining how the Constitutional court implicitly and explicitly formulates and utilises both identities in its decisions from 2014 to 2020. Our analysis of these decisions shows that, instead of negotiating or synthesising the competing identities as the literature on constitutional identity envisages, the Thai court adapts the generic liberal democratic identity to defend and reassert the incumbent dominant identity of Thai-ness. The court drains liberal constitutionalism of its intrinsic substance while tactfully preserving and then lending its global legitimacy to bolster the local identity of Thai-ness. As a result, the liberal democratic identity is manipulated and pulled to gravitate towards the opposite value of Thai-ness. This unequal co-option between the polarised identities, we argue, depicts the current constitutional struggle in Thailand and marks the unique identity of Thai-style constitutionalism.

Type
Special Issue (Part 1): Constitutional Struggles in Asia
Information
Federal Law Review , Volume 50 , Issue 2: Special Issue (Part 1): Constitutional Struggles in Asia , June 2022 , pp. 156 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © 2022 The Author(s)

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References

1. This article is partially developed from the previous works of the authors, Rawin Leelapatana and Suprawee Asanasak. See Rawin Leelapatana, ‘The Kelsen-Schmitt Debate and the Use of Emergency Powers in Political Crises in Thailand’ (PhD thesis, The University of Bristol, 2018); Rawin Leelapatana and Suprawee Asanasak’s article on Iconnectblog, ‘Constitutional Battles in Contemporary Thailand’, The International Society of Public Law (Blog Post, 24 February 2021) http://www.iconnectblog.com/2021/02/symposium-constitutional-struggles-in-asia-part-v-determining-what-is-thai-thailands-constitutional-court-and-identity-polarisation/?fbclid=IwAR2gYV8MAVLcE-VvSAJCSeAIg_FbrL0cOw_ddB-AMbOT_q_ALJxKkzFCTeY.

2. Bui Ngoc Son, ‘Globalization of constitutional identity’ (2017) 26(3) Washington International Law Journal 463, 469.

3. Bruce Ackerman, ‘Constitutional Politics/Constitutional Law’ (1989) 99(3) The Yale Law Journal 453, 459.

4. Björn Dressel, ‘When Notions of Legitimacy Conflict: The Case of Thailand’ (2010) 38(3) Politics & Policy 445, 449–55.

5. Thak Chaloemtiarana, Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism (SEAP 2007), 43, 83, 92–99.

6. Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn, ‘Constitutional Identity’ (2006) 68(3) The Review of Politics 361, 363; Michel Rosenfeld, ‘Constitutional Identity’ in Michel Rosenfeld and András Sajó (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press, 2012) 756, 757.

7. Tímea Drinóczi, ‘Constitutional Identity in Europe: The Identity of the Constitution. A Regional Approach’ (2020) 21(2) German Law Journal 105, 112; Rosenfeld, ‘Constitutional Identity’ (n 6).

8. Monika Polzin, ‘Constitutional Identity as a Constructed Reality and a Restless Soul’ (2017) 18(7) German Law Journal 1595, 1600; Rosenfeld, ‘Constitutional Identity’ (n 6) 759.

9. Bui (n 2) 468–9.

10. Ibid; Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn, Constitutional Identity (Harvard University Press, 2010) 22, 102–3, 113.

11. Federico Ferrara, The Political Development of Modern Thailand (Cambridge University Press, 2015) 279.

12. See Björn Dressel and Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, ‘Coloured Judgements? The Work of the Thai Constitutional Court, 1998–2016’ (2019) 49(1) Journal of Contemporary Asia 1.

13. Rawin Leelapatana and Abdurrachman Satrio Pratomo, ‘The Relationship Between a Kelsenian Constitutional Court and an Entrenched National Ideology: Lessons from Thailand and Indonesia’ (2020) 14(4) The Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law 497, 510–521.

14. Ibid.

15. See, eg, กล้า สมุทวณิช [Kla Samudavanija], ‘ศาลรัฐธรรมนูญไทย: ทบทวนก่อนการปฏิรูป’ [‘The Thai Constitutional Court: Review before reform’] (2015) 13(1) King Prajadhipok’s Institute Journal 125; ปิยบุตร แสงกนกกุล [Piyabutr Saengkanokkul], ศาลรัฐประหาร [Judicial Coup] (Sameskybooks 2017); Björn Dressel, ‘Thailand: Judicialization of politics or politicization of the judiciary?’ in Björn Dressel (ed), The Judicialization of Politics in Asia (Routledge, 2012).

16. See, eg, Dressel and Tonsakulrungruang (n 12); Duncan McCargo, ‘Competing Notions of Judicialization in Thailand’ (2014) 36 Contemporary Southeast Asia 417; Eugénie Mérieau, ‘Thailand’s Deep State, Royal Power and the Constitutional Court (1997–2015)’ (2016) 46 Journal of Contemporary Asia 445.

17. Gary J. Jacobsohn, ‘The formation of constitutional identities’ in Tom Ginsburg, Rosalind Dixon (eds), Comparative Constitutional Law (Edward Elgar, 2011) 129.

18. Jacobsohn, Constitutional Identity (n 10) 15, 86–87 (emphasis added). See also Bui (n 2) 471.

19. Gary Jeffrey Jacobsohn, ‘Constitutional Identity’ in Sujit Choudhry, Madhav Khosla and Pratap Bhanu Mehta (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2016) 111.

20. Michel Rosenfeld, ‘The Identity of the Constitutional Subject’ (1995) 16 Cardozo Law Review 1049, 1072, 1091.

21. Ibid 1097.

22. Ibid 1071.

23. Polzin (n 8) 1601, citing Michel Rosenfeld, ‘Modern Constitutionalism as Interplay between Identity and Diversity’ in Michael Rosenfeld (ed), Constitutionalism, Identity, Difference and Legitimacy (Duke University Press, 1994) 3, 6.

24. Jacobsohn, Constitutional Identity (n 10) 326.

25. Ibid 214; Heinz Klug, ‘Constitutional Identity and Change’ (2011) 47 Tulsa Law Review 41, 45.

26. Watcharabon Buddharaksa, ‘The Old is Dying and the New Cannot be Born: ‘Past and Present’ of Thailand’s Organic Crisis’ in Francesca Antonini and others (eds), Revisiting Gramsci’s Notebooks (Brill, 2020), 42–47.

27. Leelapatana and Pratomo (n 13) 508–509.

28. Bui (n 2) 467.

29. Silvia Suteu, Eternity Clauses in Democratic Constitutionalism (Oxford University Press, 2021) 89.

30. Victor V. Ramraj, ‘Constitutional Tipping Points: Sustainable Constitutionalism in Theory and Practice’ (2010) 1(2) Transnational Legal Theory 191, 193–199 (‘Constitutional Tipping Points’).

31. Hans Kelsen, The Essence and Value of Democracy, ed Nadia Urbinati and Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, tr Brian Graf (Rowman and Littlefield, 2013) 27.

32. David Dyzenhaus, ‘The Compulsion of Legality’ in Victor V Ramraj (ed), Emergencies and the Limits of Legality (Cambridge University Press, 2008) 33, 36, 40.

33. Lars Vinx, Hans Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law: Legality and Legitimacy (Oxford University Press, 2007) 31.

34. Geranne Lautenbach, The Concept of the Rule of Law and the European Court of Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2013) 39–41.

35. Stefan Korioth, ‘Prologue: The Shattering of Methods in Late Willhelmine Germany’ in Arthur J Jacobson and Bernhard Schlink (eds), Weimar: A Jurisprudence of Crisis, tr Belinda Cooper (University of California Press, 2000) 47.

36. Thongchai Winichakul, ‘Toppling Democracy’ (2008) 38(1) Journal of Contemporary Asia 11, 21.

37. Ibid 15.

38. Andrew J Harding and Rawin Leelapatana, ‘Constitution-Making in 21st-Century Thailand: The Continuing Search for a Perfect Constitutional Fit’ (2019) 7(2) Chinese Journal of Comparative Law 266, 270.

39. Hans Kelsen, General Theory of Law and State, tr Anders Wedberg (Harvard University Press, 1945) 288.

40. Ibid 13.

41. See Ramraj (n 30) 197.

42. David Streckfuss, Truth on Trial in Thailand: Defamation, Treason, and Lèse-Majesté (Routledge, 2011) 302.

43. Ibid 301.

44. Victor V Ramraj, ‘Constitutions and Emergency Regimes in Asia’ in Rosalind Dixon and Tom Ginsburg (eds), Comparative Constitutional Law in Asia (Edward Elgar, 2014) 219 (‘Constitutions and Emergency Regimes’).

45. Devyani Prabhat, Unleashing the Force of Law: Legal Mobilization, National Security, and Basic Freedoms (Palgrave, 2016) 2.

46. Mark Tushnet, ‘Popular Constitutionalism as Political Law’ (2006) 81(3) Chicago-Kent Law Review 991, 994–5; Victor V Ramraj, ‘Emergency Powers and Constitutional Theory’ (2011) 41(2) Hong Kong Law Journal 165, 195–6.

47. Dressel (n 4) 449–450, 454.

48. Ran Hirschl, ‘The New Constitution and the Judicialization of Pure Politics Worldwide’ (2006) 75(2) Fordham Law Review 721, 721

49. Dressel and Tonsakulrungruang (n 12).

50. Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 12–13/2551 (2008); Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 20/2551 (2008).

51. Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 10–11/2553 (2010).

52. Ferrara (n 11) 245, 285.

53. Ramraj, ‘Constitutions and Emergency Régimes’ (n 44) 219; Ramraj, ‘Constitutional Tipping Points’ (n 30) 198; Tushnet (n 46) 994.

54. ‘กปปส. เปิดเผยรูปแบบจัดตั้งรัฐบาล-สภาประชาชน’ [‘PDRC reveals the format of government and the People’s Council’], Thai PBS (online, 13 December 2013) https://news.thaipbs.or.th/content/211684.

55. Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, ‘The Policing of Anti-government Protests: Thailand’s 2013–2014 Demonstrations and a Crisis of Police Legitimacy’ (2017) 4(1) Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 95, 103–111.

56. Constitutional Court of Thailand Order No 10/2557 (2014).

57. Constitutional Court of Thailand Order No 21/2557 (2014); Constitutional Court of Thailand Order No 33/2557 (2014).

58. Constitutional Court of Thailand Order No 50/2557 (2014).

59. Civil Court of Thailand Black Case No 275/2557 (2014).

60. Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 5/2557 (2014) 17.

61. Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 10-11/2553 (2010) 11.

62. Ibid 13.

63. International Commission of Jurists, More power, less accountability: Thailand’s new Emergency Decree (Report, August 2005) 15.

64. Puangthong Pawakapan, Infiltrating Society: The Thai Military’s Internal Security Affairs (The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2021) xiv.

65. Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, ‘Anakot Mai: ‘lawfare’ and Future Forward Party’s legacy’, New Mandala (Blog Post, 28 February 2020) https://www.newmandala.org/anakot-mai-lawfare-and-future-forward-partys-legacy/.

66. Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 5/2563 (2020) (‘CC Decision’).

67. Ibid 40.

68. ‘FFP dissolved, executives banned for 10 years’, Bangkok Post (online, 21 February 2020) https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/politics/1862769/ffp-dissolved-executives-banned-for-10-years.

69. CC Decision (n 66) 42-43.

70. Tonsakulrungruang (65).

71. Ibid; CC Decision (n 66) 44–46.

72. Kelsen (n 39) 39.

73. Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand s 184(3) https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Thailand_2017.pdf?lang=en.

74. Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 29/2563 (2020).

75. Ibid 24.

76. Ibid 25.

77. Ibid.

78. Ibid 24.

79. Constitutional Tribunal of Thailand Decision No 3-5/2550 (2007); Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision no 5/2551 (2008); Constitutional Court of Thailand Decision No 4/2559 (2016).

80. Leelapatana and Asanasak (n 1).

81. Bui (n 2) 475; Michel Rosenfeld, The Identity of the Constitutional Subject: Selfhood, Citizenship, Culture and Community (Routledge, 2010) 203.

82. Jeffrey Seitzer, ‘Carl Schmitt’s Internal Critique of Liberal Constitutionalism: Verfassungslehre as a Response to the Weimar State Crisis’ (1997) 10(1) Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 203, 223; Leelapatana and Pratomo (n 13) 518.

83. Vinx (n 33) 170.

84. Ibid 31.

85. Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception, tr Kevin Attell (University of Chicago Press, 2005) 1.

86. Claudio Minca and Rory Rowan, On Schmitt and Space (Routledge, 2016) 32.

87. Leelapatana and Pratomo (n 13) 517.

88. Ferrara (n 11) 271.

89. See Tyrell Haberkorn, In Plain Sight: Impunity and Human Rights in Thailand (The University of Wisconsin Press, 2018).

90. See Janjira Sombatpoonsiri, ‘‘Authoritarian civil society’: How anti-democracy activism shapes Thailand’s autocracy’ (2020) 16(4) Journal of Civil Society 333.

91. Ferrara (n 11) 285.

92. Leelapatana and Pratomo (n 13) 520.

93. Bui (n 2) 474.

94. Eugénie Mérieau, Constitutional Bricolage: Thailand’s Sacred Monarchy vs. The Rule of Law (Hart Publishing, 2021).