Democracy and the Thai Middle Class: Globalization, Modernization, and Constitutional Change

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Modernization theory claims that the middle class supports democracy, primarily because they are educated. There are other factors that influence the middle class decision to support democracy. Prior to Thai demonstrations of Suchinda, the world experienced the third wave of democratization recommended by political scientist Samuel Huntington just between 1974 and 1990. He explained that "snowball effect" may be one of the reasons behind this wave, and if other countries also experienced democratization, the country may be affected (Huntington, 1991). In the latter half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, in Eastern Europe, which is an area dominated by undemocratic countries, many democratic movements like the Baltic sea route caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and other communist countries It was. A "snowman effect" may occur, which may affect the middle class of Thailand to support democracy

Do you agree with the assumptions and predictions of the modernization theory for the development of world economy and politics? why?

According to famous Thai researchers, there is a change in the socio-economic structure of Thailand behind the confrontation and struggle between UDD and PAD. In other words, the Thai society is (a) the emergence of the middle class of rural areas over the past 20 to 30 years, (b) the rural middle class occupies the majority of society as a whole, and (c) the political power of the middle class of the city It is equal to the political power of rural residents. As a result, when the new electoral system and the more democratic 1997 Constitution were introduced, people in rural areas were increasingly interested in political and social problems. However, the results of the first election under the Constitution were not respected. Most RSs belong to middle class and lower class. More specifically, they are more middle-class in rural areas that are becoming more prominent in the market because they are getting more educated.