Why Reconciliation Failed in Thailand

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to explain why successive Thai governments have failed in maintaining peace through conducting reconciliation processes. Relying on a public survey and quantitative analysis, it argues that the reconciliation process conducted by several governments during the past decade failed because trust building–both in terms of trust in national institutions and trust among the people–has been ignored. The neglect of the Thai governments to invest time and other resources in building trust has made the term reconciliation unpopular and created perceptions of the reconciliation process as being conducted as a means for the people holding state power to defeat the people of opposing groups rather that a means of resolving conflict problems and reconciling society. This dissertation thus recommends that the government as one of the most important political institutions for the facilitation of a reconciliation process must seek the ways to increase its trustworthiness in the eyes of the public. Interactive channels must also be made available to the people to communicate together, to build understanding, and to exchange opinions; especially channels for broad-based discussions about the pathway to transform the conflicts and the future of this country in order to build trust between the people. Without these recognitions and mechanisms, the political conflicts in Thailand could not been transformed to durable peace.