Download or read book The Chakri Monarchs and the Thai People written by and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The King and the Making of Modern Thailand written by Antonio L. Rappa and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The making of modern Thailand is grounded in specific political institutions, Brahmanical tropes, and sacred Buddhist traditions stylized with Hindu rituals. Over and above these mysterious practices and ancient customs, modern Thailand is a product of the late Great Rama IX Bhumibol Adulyadej. Most Thai people have only known one King. Born in Europe and educated during World War II, Bhumibol was the son of a Harvard medical doctor who had a penchant for jazz music and fast cars. When he returned to Thailand in 1951 to assume his royal duties, he could hardly speak Thai but his French and German were remarkable. Bhumibol had inherited an impoverished country with nothing but a symbolic role as a figurehead monarch. He was surrounded by envious courtiers and royals from other families now sidelined by the rise of the Chakri. Scheming generals and authoritarian field marshals were emptying the Kingdom’s coffers. Using guile and wit, Bhumibol had turned the tide by 1973. He became the most powerful modern warlord in the history of the Kingdom. He survived attempted murder, crafty politicians, corrupt generals, sycophantic courtiers and impoverished masses. When he died on October 13 2016, Bhumibol was already the longest standing monarch in the world. King Bhumibol was deeply respected and well-liked by farang and locals alike. Despite his massive social and economic achievements many problems continue to plague the Kingdom. These are prostitution, human rights issues, pollution, corruption, cronyism in Chinese businesses, border conflicts with Cambodia, and the refugee problem. This book examines the role of Rama IX and the variegated set of problems that persist in life under the great white elephant and mango trees. Rappa draws from his primary research that includes interviews, surveys and first-hand observations of a remarkable kingdom and a uniquely remarkable king to reveal the internal security threats to democracy and civil society in the oldest Southeast Asian kingdom in late modernity.
Download or read book The King Never Smiles written by Paul M. Handley and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej, the only king ever born in the United States, came to the throne of his country in 1946 and is now the world's longest-serving monarch. This book tells the unexpected story of his life and 60-year rule: how a Western-raised boy came to be seen by his people as a living Buddha; and how a king widely seen as beneficent and apolitical could in fact be so deeply political, autocratic, and even brutal. Paul Handley provides an extensively researched, factual account of the king's youth and personal development, ascent to the throne, skilful political maneuverings, and attempt to shape Thailand as a Buddhist kingdom. Blasting apart the widely accepted image of the king as egalitarian and virtuous, Handley convincingly portrays an anti-democratic monarch who, together with allies in big business and the corrupt Thai military, has protected a centuries-old, barely-modified feudal dynasty. When at nineteen Bhumibol assumed the throne after the still-unsolved shooting of his brother, the Thai monarchy had been stripped of power and prestige. Over the ensuing decades, Bhumibol became the paramount political actor in the kingdom, crushing critics while attaining high status among his people. The book details this process and depicts Thailand's unique constitutional monarch in the full light of the facts.
Download or read book Nai Luang Beloved King of Thailand written by Tenzin Dawa and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2011-07-06 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej - King of Thailand - is divinely revered by his people. Still, during His Majesty's long reign of 65 years [as of 2011], the King has seen over 15 military coups, 16 constitutions, and 28 changes of prime ministers. The King has also used his influence to stop military coups, among others, including attempts in 1981 and 1985. It has often been said that the independence and integrity of Thailand is assured by three unifying factors: its people's carefree disposition, the tolerant Buddhist Religion, and the Thai Throne. For seven centuries Thailand has successfully survived as an independent country while countries all around in Southeast Asia disintegrated or fell victim of colonialist powers. For that reason, no Thai would now deny that as these unique and sacred institutions survive and flourish, so the Thai nation will also survive and flourish. Without either one of them, no one could foresee what Thailand would be like King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Queen Sirikit, and the Heir-apparent are legally considered "inviolable" and criticism can result in three to fifteen years imprisonment; although the King said in his 2005 birthday speech that he would not be offended by lese majeste, since "the King is human."
Download or read book Thailand in the 90s written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thailand s Theory of Monarchy written by Patrick Jory and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2016-05-09 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2016 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Since the 2006 coup d'état, Thailand has been riven by two opposing political visions: one which aspires to a modern democracy and the rule of law, and another which holds to the traditional conception of a kingdom ruled by an exemplary Buddhist monarch. Thailand has one of the world's largest populations of observant Buddhists and one of its last politically active monarchies. This book examines the Theravada Buddhist foundations of Thailand's longstanding institution of monarchy. Patrick Jory states that the storehouse of monarchical ideology is to be found in the popular literary genre known as the Jātakas, tales of the Buddha's past lives. The best-known of these, the Vessantara Jātaka, disseminated an ideal of an infinitely generous prince as a bodhisatta or future Buddha—an ideal which remains influential in Thailand today. Using primary and secondary source materials largely unknown in Western scholarship, Jory traces the history of the Vessantara Jātaka and its political-cultural importance from the ancient to the modern period. Although pressures from European colonial powers and Buddhist reformers led eventually to a revised political conception of the monarchy, the older Buddhist ideal of kingship has yet endured.
Download or read book The Crown and the Capitalists written by Wasana Wongsurawat and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2019-11-18 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.
Download or read book Lords of Life written by Prince Čhunlačhakkraphong (grandson of Chulalongkorn, King of Siam) and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Happiness Planner June July written by Mo Seetubtim and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Thailand s Political History written by B. J. Terwiel and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A full history of Thai politics from the 13th century to the present day.
Download or read book A Kingdom in Crisis written by Andrew MacGregor Marshall and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Perhaps the best introduction yet to the roots of Thailand's present political impasse. A brilliant book.' Simon Long, The Economist Struggling to emerge from a despotic past, and convulsed by an intractable conflict that will determine its future, Thailand stands at a defining moment in its history. Scores have been killed on the streets of Bangkok. Freedom of speech is routinely denied. Democracy appears increasingly distant. And many Thais fear that the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej is expected to unleash even greater instability. Yet in spite of the impact of the crisis, and the extraordinary importance of the royal succession, they have never been comprehensively analysed – until now. Breaking Thailand's draconian lèse majesté law, Andrew MacGregor Marshall is one of the only journalists covering contemporary Thailand to tell the whole story. Marshall provides a comprehensive explanation that for the first time makes sense of the crisis, revealing the unacknowledged succession conflict that has become entangled with the struggle for democracy in Thailand.
Download or read book King Bhumibol Adulyadej written by Nicholas Grossman and published by Editions Didier Millet. This book was released on 2011 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Law and Kingship in Thailand During the Reign of King Chulalongkorn written by David Engel and published by U OF M CENTER FOR SOUTH EAST ASIAN STUDI. This book was released on 1975-01-01 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This essay originated in an attempt to bring together the study of law and Thai history in a description of the transformation of Thailand during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as seen from a legal point of view. The resulting work is based for the most part upon those royal enactments from 1873 to 1910 which seemed most crucially to affect the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of the king and the rights of private citizens. [ix]
Download or read book The Political Development of Modern Thailand written by Federico Ferrara and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-26 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the roots of Thailand's political development from 1932 to the present, accounting for the intervening period's political turmoil.
Download or read book Anna and the King of Siam written by Margaret Landon and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2016-08-23 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on the incredible true story of one woman’s journey to the exotic world of nineteenth-century Siam, the riveting novel that inspired The King and I. In 1862, recently widowed and with two small children to support, British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens agrees to serve as governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (present-day Thailand), unaware that her years in the royal palace will change not only her own life, but also the future of a nation. Her relationship with King Mongkut, famously portrayed by Yul Brynner in the classic film The King and I, is complicated from the start, pitting two headstrong personalities against each other: While the king favors tradition, Anna embraces change. As governess, Anna often finds herself at cross-purposes, marveling at the foreign customs, fascinating people, and striking landscape of the kingdom and its harems, while simultaneously trying to influence her pupils—especially young Prince Chulalongkorn—with her Western ideals and values. Years later, as king, this very influence leads Chulalongkorn to abolish slavery in Siam and introduce democratic reform based on the ideas of freedom and human dignity he first learned from his beloved tutor. This captivating novel brilliantly combines in-depth research—author Margaret Landon drew from Siamese court records and Anna’s own writings—with richly imagined details to create a lush portrait of 1860s Siam. As a Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musical and an Academy Award–winning film, the story of Anna and the King of Siam has enchanted millions over the years. It is a gripping tale of cultural differences and shared humanity that invites readers into a vivid and sensory world populated by unforgettable characters.
Download or read book Thailand s Buddhist Kingship in the 20th and 21st Centuries written by Marie-Sybille de Vienne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-31 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on two decades of fieldwork, including over a hundred interviews with various political and economic actors at different social levels, as well as documentary and media analysis, this volume presents an account of the Buddhist monarchy in Thailand, offering a sociology of elites, an analysis of the economic influence of the Crown and an examination of the magic and ritual dimension of kingship. An exploration of the role and status of the Palace over the last century, whether as a guarantor of democracy, a symbol of stability, a source of power or an object of popular discontent, Thailand’s Buddhist Kingship in the 20th and 21st Centuries will appeal to scholars of sociology and anthropology with interests in material religion, politics and Southeast Asian studies.
Download or read book A History of Ayutthaya written by Chris Baker and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-11 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first full history of a great commercial and political center that rose in Asia over almost five centuries.
