Memahami Hubungan Sivil-Tentera Thailand dari Perspektif Teori Concordance: Satu Analisis

Abstract

Hubungan sivil-tentera Thailand sering berada dalam keadaan antagonisme dan menjadi subjek pemerhatian kerana tindakan-tindakan tidak demokratik institusi ketenteraan, terutamanya kudeta yang kerap dilakukan. Ia sedikit sebanyak menyumbang kepada pembantutan proses pendemokrasian dan polarisasi ekstrem dalam politik domestik Thailand. Namun, lanskap ini terhasil daripada kurangnya keazaman politik dan persetujuan dalam kalangan pihak-pihak berkepentingan untuk mewujudkan satu ekosistem politik domestik yang boleh memenuhi kehendak semua pihak dan membawa kepada kestabilan politik. Teori concordance yang dikembangkan oleh Rebecca Schiff tidak pernah digunakan ke atas hubungan sivil-tentera Thailand dan model ini memberikan satu alternatif yang berbeza dari teori institusi Huntington: matlamat hubungan sivil-tentera yang baik adalah kestabilan politik dan bukan demokrasi semata-mata. Melalui kajian ini, pengkaji akan mengaplikasikan model ini dan menganalisa kemungkinan sebuah hubungan sivil-tentera yang stabil dan profesional di Thailand sekiranya ia menurut prasyarat-prasyarat yang digariskan oleh teori concordance.

Kata kunci: hubungan sivil-tentera, teori concordance, institusi ketenteraan Thailand, kudeta tentera, politik Thailand

Abstract: Civil-military relations in Thailand has always find itself in an antagonistic situation and has been the subject of much observation and study due to its military’s undemocratic actions, especially frequent military coups. These frequent undemocratic actions has contributed to interruptions of Thailand’s democratisation process and enabled extreme political polarisation within the community. However, this current landscape is a result of a lack of political will and agreement among important stakeholders to create a healthy, stable domestic politics that ensures all stakeholders are satisfied and represented in their needs and demands. The theory of concordance developed by Rebecca Schiff has never been applied in the context of Thailand’s civil-military relations and its model provides an alternative that differs from Huntington’s institutional theory: that the end goal of good civil-military relations is political stability and not necessarily democracy itself. Through this research, we will apply the alternative model and analyse how it may predict the possibility of a cordial and professional civil-military relations in Thailand if all conditions and indicators required by the theory are fulfilled. 

Keywords: civil-military relations, concordance theory, Thai military, military coups, Thai politics

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