ABSTRACT
For fifty years, since the military’s intervention in 1932 brought to an end several centuries of absolute monarchy, the armed forces—especially the army—have exercised dominant political power in Thailand. With occasional brief lapses after World War II and again in the mid-1970s, Thai political dynamics have revolved around the army: its infantry and tank battalions, its generals and colonels, its dominance over and yet cooptation of the civil bureaucracy, the business community, political parties, and even nascent labor, farmer, and student organizations. The military has been in charge. Only its internal factional squabbles over leadership and personal power, and over access to the spoils of rampant corruption, have threatened its continued hegemony.
