Despite brief moments of democratic opening, authoritarianism in Thailand has largely prevailed due to its susceptibility to coups d'état. According to the 2023 reports from Varieties of Democracy and the Economic Intelligence Unit, Thailand is classified as an "electoral autocracy" and a "flawed democracy," respectively. Civicus identifies its civil society space as repressed, and the 2023 Freedom on the Net report deems Thailand's internet unfree. Among the six countries in our study, Thailand ranks best for press freedom at 87 out of 180 countries in the Freedom of the Press Index. However, its rule of law is weak, ranking 82 out of 142 countries in the Rule of Law Index.
The country’s democratisation history has been short-lived, with brief democratic intervals in the early 1970s and the 1990s. Elite networks, comprising the palace, the military, the courts and allied business, have dominated the politico-economic landscape and intervened in electoral politics to preserve their hegemony. The country was embroiled in cycles of political struggle between these traditional elites and the new ones representing emerging political parties supported by popular bases.
In 2006-2007 and 2014-2019, the two military coups, followed by subsequent juntas, led to the enforcement of various draconian laws, including the Computer-Related Crime Act (CCA). Despite the 2019 and 2023 elections, Thailand remains in the shadow of autocratic elites. Together with other laws, such as Criminal Code (Sections 326–328 on defamation and Article 112 on royal defamation), the CCA has been instrumental in online censorship. The law focuses on content offences committed on a computer, which are defined as the import into a computer system of forged or false computer data. The latter is identified as the information that “is likely to cause damage to a third party or the public…to damage national security or cause public panic…[and to create] an offence against national security…” This vague definition provides the authorities with a broad scope of interpretation of what constitutes damage, national security and public panic. Accordingly, the CCA has been mostly exploited against online critics of the previous junta.
The weaponisation of the CCA reinforces the pattern of 'lawfare' in Thailand. The Constitutional Court has dissolved 34 political parties, including four winning parties, and removed four sitting prime ministers. Police, prosecutors, and some judges have played a crucial role in levying multiple charges against dissidents and opposition politicians.
