Governance and administration in a new democracy: The case of formal control of free-to-air television in Thailand (1997-2006)

While Thailand has nominally been a constitutional democracy since 1932, the role of military, bureaucratic elites has influenced development and implementation of public policy. In this paper we argue that reforms to media regulations promised in the 1997 Constitution have been largely ineffective. Specifically the independent media regulator has not been established, laws related to broadcast media continue to be inconsistent with constitutional requirements and regulations are either not consistently enforced, or are enforced in a manner inconsistent with the Constitution. We attribute this to the continued diminished role of the constitution as 'supreme law' and the ongoing, albeit changing, influence of the military, bureaucratic and business elites on Thai democracy.