TY - JOUR AU - Pawakapan, Puangthong PY - 2019/07/05 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The Thai Military's Civil Affairs Projects in the Anti-Democracy Period: Development and Justification JF - Journal of Social Sciences Naresuan University JA - Journal of Social Sciences Naresuan University VL - 15 IS - 1 SE - Review Paper DO - UR - https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jssnu/article/view/201366 SP - 15_217-247 AB - <p>Between the 1960s and mid-1980s, the Thai military regimes had created a wide range of civil affairs projects as political offensive to counter communism. They included rural development programmes, mass organizations, ideological indoctrination and psychological operations. The Army-dominated Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has been in charge of the projects. Since the defeat of the Communist Party of Thailand, little attention has been paid to ISOC’s role and power within the state apparatus. Since the coup of September 2006 that toppled the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra, ISOC has been empoered and increasingly employed by the military regimes to control, suppress and keep surveillance over the civil society. The aim is to dictate the country’s political directions against the rising popularity of electoral democracy. This paper also examines the idea, development, and political and legal justifications for the military’s expansive role in civil affairs since the counter-insurgency period until present day.</p> ER -