Local Politics and Democracy in Thailand
Abstract This article aimed to explain the development of the Thai local politics and democracy which originated from the concept of the administration decentralization, and to promote the importance of democracy basic principles learning. In developed countries it is evident that the progress of politics and democracy experienced the processes of tolerance, majority rules and minority rights, conflict solving, negotiation, and benefits assimilation. The early stage of the initiation of the Thai local administration, under the District Administration Act of the year 1994 has also caused the conflicts and violence to life and properties, as well as crimes and corruptions of those involved with local politicians. However, the experience from the past two decades has led to the development of communities and local politicians resulting in the development of public utilities including roads, water supply, water sources, public spaces, public properties, and local economy. The centralized phenomena, including the number of votes in the elections, protests, and silence during the coup d’etat, reflected the failure and weaknesses of the national administration. Thus, the development of local administration can be considered as a good lesson in solving conflicts and violence in the nation's politics.
Local Politics and Democracy in Turkey: An Appraisal
Local government and politics in Turkey have been under the tutelary control of the central state. Contrary to the Western republican tradition of autonomous local self-government, local politics in Turkey were created by and for the central state. More recently, however, a municipal movement with a social democratic coloring emerged to put an end to central governmental tutelage. This movement was followed by the rise of a new conservative perspective in the 1980s. A peculiar synthesis of technical reason and traditional nationalism was the main characteristic of Turkish new conservatism, which identified local political problems with technical problems of urban management. This approach has been adopted by the party of political Islam, now controlling major metropolitan areas and most smaller towns in central and eastern Turkey; this party tries to resynthesize technical reason and Islamic traditions. Whether Turkey will walk on the path toward more decentralized and participatory political organization or jump into a new and stronger authoritarianism depends on the respective political capabilities of these three trends.
The Internet and the Changing Beijing-Taipei Relations: Toward Unification or Fragmentation?
Information and its technologies facilitate the exercise of what has been called “soft power,” a concept that differentiates information from the conventional dimensions of “hard power,” which is mainly associated with military force and economic influence. Soft power, according to Nye, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States, means that “A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness. In this sense it is just as important to set the agenda in world politics and attract others as it is to force them to change through the threat or use of military or economic weapons.”1