Article of faith: The failure of royal liberalism in Thailand

Calls for "royal intervention" to end the political crisis that wracked Thailand in 2006 were consistent with the disposition of Thai liberalism. The apparent paradox of liberals seeking a seemingly extra-constitutional solution to end the popular rule of Thaksin Shinawatra's government stems from the agnosticism of liberalism to majoritarian democracy. The specific challenges that emerged as a consequence of Thaksin's rise led liberals to mobilise royalist ideas to withstand Thaksin's assault on the liberally conceived 1997 Constitution. Key among these ideas was the notion of sovereignty as expressed in the relationship between the monarch and the people, or rachaprachasamasai. The failure of "royal liberalism" to bring an end to the crisis, may signal a more general failure of royal liberalism to secure political order in the future.