Thai politics: Junta's actions making country far from democratic

[yellowboat]

I see a few "tried and true" Junta arguments have been advanced:

1) Thailand was on the brink of civil war, necessitating the coup - this theory has almost no evidence to support it. The trajectory in the several months preceding the coup was toward less confrontation. I was in Bangkok one month before the coup. The protest sites were reduced to Lumpini Park. I was there for one of the last sizable demonstrations, a march by Siam/MBK. No violence; a lot of people peeling off for shopping in the midst of their "outrage". True, there were distinct and sporadic acts of violence, and real casualties of that violence in Bangkok. But nothing even remotely approximtaing a civil war or a violent conflict preceding a civil war. After the coup, there were a few notable arrests of some ragtag groups, including the group of 22 or 23 in Khon Kaen; and their ability to wage a civil war was virtually non-existant. Some people have invoked "secret knowledge" that has not been shared with the public to suggest the situation was much worse than that reported or actually observed. This sort of specious argument is the last refuge for those bereft of evidence.

2) Thailand was not a "true democracy" before the coup, and had many defects such a corruption, and undue influence on politicians. This argument is a variant of the "No true Scotsman" argument, in which it is necessary to invoke an ideal condition in order to argue against an average condition. The conditions in Thailand were well within historical norms for Thai politics, corruption, police inaction, etc. None of that would normally be considered a crisis. But if we invoke the "true democracy" argument, then Thailand was in horrible shape. A logical fallacy at best.

A well written and articulate post, but not sure it is relevant to the OP, as the reasons for the coup whilst being debatable are not the real issue and it would seem that a huge majority of Thais are now quite happy that the coup happened.

"it would seem that a huge majority of Thais are now quite happy that the coup happened."

This comment and the whole brink of civil war is completely unsubstantiated. If you can remember, the good general outlawed polls that were less than flattering and now with god like powers, that is unlikely to change. "Most Thais"? What? You did your own poll on an army base or on Siem Square ?