ไทยกับการยุบเลิกองค์การสนธิสัญญาป้องกันร่วมกันแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ / ปณิธี จาตกานนท์ = Thailand and the dissolution of the South-East Asia Treaty Organization / Panitee Chatakanonda
The objective of this dissertation is to study Thailand's policy in becoming a military ally in the South - East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which mainly aimed at deterring Communist threats. The study examines the causes of Thailand's hesitation on the significance of the SEATO that eventually led to her support of the dissolution of the organization. The realm of study includes the participation of Thailand in the organization and SEATO's activities in relation to Thailand since Field Marshall Phibul's government up to MR.Kukrit Pramoj's government. However, the emphasis is placed on the periods during Field Marshall Thanom Kittikachorn and the post -14th October 1973 regimes that influenced Thailand's decision on the dissolution of the SEATO. This study used alliance theory as a tool of analysis since the main factor of being an alliance is found deficient among SEATO's members, i.e. the same interest against common threats. The study found that the starting point of which Thailand averted herself from this multilateral co-operation is when SEATO's members were divergent in their attitude toward Communist threats in Southeast Asia since the Laos crisis and the Vietnam War, while the only country sharing a common interest against the Communist with Thailand was the US. Therefore, Thailand decided to depend on the US assistance under the Rusk - Thanat Joint Communiqu?, which is regarded as a bilateral co-operation in the SEATO's framework. This alliance had remained until the adjustment of the US foreign policy from containing the Communist world to the normalisation with them. This change is, thus, the supporting factor for Thailand's decision to dissolve the SEATO.
