Thammasat University provides a neutral platform and ‘safe’ space for different political stakeholders to come together to frankly discuss challenges. Due to the imbalance of power in Thai politics stemming from the coup in 2014 and the existing establishment, a safe space to voice different political is needed more than ever.
Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University is at the forefront of the attempt to provide a safe and neutral platform for these voices. The following activities are the important examples that Thammasat University is providing this kind of platform.
First, the “Constitution Dialogue: New Constitution, New Consensus” was a public seminar and a research project that aims to create a platform for the public to deliberate about the reform of the constitution for the future of Thailand. This activity was cooperation between Direk Jayanama Research Center of the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University, and partners, including Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Law, Chiang Mai University, and The101.World. The project was launched on December 21, 2020 (see: https://www.the101.world/constitution-dialogue/ ).
The Constitution Dialogue project focused on 8 sensitive political issues, namely, (1) New political structure: redesigning power relations between the Monarchy, the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the people; (2) Election system: House of Representatives, the Senate, and political parties; (3) People Politics: Rights, Freedom and People Participation; (4) Constitutional Court; (5) Independent Organizations; (6) Decentralization; (7) the reform of Judicial system; (8) the State, Public Policy, the National Strategies and the National Reform.
Since the launch, the project has organized a series of seminars and articles. There have been 8 seminars so far. Please see the articles and outcomes of the seminar here (see: https://www.the101.world/category/constitution-dialogue/ ).
Second, The Democratic Citizens and Civic Engagement of the Youth was organized on November 14, 2020, by the Faculty of Political Science, Thammasat University. This was a full-day event, discussing several issues including Civic Education in Thailand, Ecology for Civic Learning, and Civic Engagement of Youth in the Digital Age. Each session was participated by academia, youth leaders, civil society organizations, as well as politicians. Please see the details of the event here: https://theactive.net/social-agenda/25631110/.
The youth political movement has been a crucial democratic movement in Thailand in the past two years. The government was trying various ways to suppress and intimidate the movement, without providing a safe space for youth to voice what they really want and properly respond. Therefore, this event was one among a few events that opened a neutral and safe platform for youth to voice their political opinions.
