กองทัพบกในฐานะกลุ่มผลประโยชน์ทางการเมืองศึกษาช่วง พ.ศ. 2535-2540 / คนึงนิจ วีระปุลลี = Royal Thai Army as a political interest group : a study of the period 1992-1997 / Kanungnit weerapulle
This research is aimed at studying the role of Royal Thai Army as a political interest group. The study focuses on the time from B.E. 2535 (1992) to B.E. 2540 (1997). This is due to the fact that the latest coup d'etat of February B.E. 2534 (1991), was not accepted by the Thai people. By contrast, despite the success of seizure of power, the coup group was widely opposed by thousands of Thai people. This is due to the fact that the 1991 coup d'etat led by General Sunthorn Kongsompong was made against the "globalization of democracy" - the democracy that has been playing a significant role throughout the world as a result of the fall of communism and socialism led by the former Soviet Union in 1992. Dictatorship has not been accepted widely by most nations of the world, particularly the United States. As for the method used in the study, it was based on interviewing questionairs of some selected technocrats and army officers with the ranks of between colonel and general, who were in the "key" positions. Thestudy finds out that the Royal Thai Army as a political interest group had trend to understand the change of the Thai political system in so far as globalization is concerned. The military personnels tended to accept democracy more than it had done in the past. The role of "information technology" in globalization has quality influenced the Thai military personnels to accept the principle of civil supremacy. This study concludes that there must be a political development plan at national level in promoting the understanding and relationship between civil and military institutions, so as to build up "professional militarism" in the Royal Thai Armed Forces. The military training should also focus on professional training and development, in order to create military professionalism.
