Democracy in Asia: Its History, Variants and Purpose with Ajarn Ployjai Pintobtang, Part 1 [S6.E50]

This is Part One of a two-part interview with Khun Ployjai
Pintobtang, a lecturer in history at Chiang Mai University, about
the history of democracy in Thailand and Asia. Ed begins by
asking A. Ploy her take on an old trope: that Asian culture is
unsuited for democracy because of its foundations in
Confucianism, which is well known for its fixed, hierarchical
relationships. A. Ploy quickly counters that this idea is
outdated given the relative success of democracy in countries
such as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Ed wonders about
Singapore, which seems stubbornly resistant to real democracy,
but A. Ploy notes Singapore's unique history and essentially
one-party system. 


Next, the conversation moves to possible pre-conditions for
democracy: Can any country become a democracy at any time or does
it have to reach a certain stage of development first? A. Ploy
notes that there is no clear authority who should get to decide
what those pre-conditions would be. Who has the right to decide
that? Ed then points out that in 1776, less than ten percent of
Americans could read and write, but somehow democracy managed to
take hold.


Greg then wonders if there is anything specific to Thai culture
and society that might make it inappropriate for a democratic
government. This leads to a lengthy discussion of Thai history,
but in short, A. Ploy argues that Thai identity and nationalism
has never truly contained democracy as a core element, thus
complicating matters for democratic reformers.


The three continue this in-depth discussion of democracy in
Thailand on next week's show. If you want to learn more, check
out the book that A. Ploy contributed to here.


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