Thailand Fed Up With 'Democracy'

Completely overshadowed by the Olympics and the Georgian war, Thailand's anti- government protests do not scoop much media attention. The same People's Alliance for Democracy that was instrumental in overturning Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006 now demands an end to democracy as unfit to deliver the country from its economic turmoil and social stalemate.

In Thais' living memory every new democratically elected government has unfailingly been only more corrupt, self-serving and inefficient than the previous one. Glib Chuan, disastrous Chavalit, shamelessly populist (fascist, in fact) Thaksin all legitimately came to office on a wave of popular support only to end up with a bang of huge failure and scandal.

Fed up with Western-styled democracy, Thais now demand a sort of Turkish model where the army would have an institutionalized say in national politics and the parliament would be appointed, presumably by the King. Quite contrary to Western perceptions, Turkish military has played a very progressive role in the country's political history as a republic, preventing on numerous occasions Islamist rollback and rampant political corruption.

Parallels here can be seen with the general public opinion in Russia accepting the necessity of a strong authoritarian rule in the country. A decade of lawless turmoil and oligarchic bacchanalia under Western-backed Yeltsin made Russians strongly allergic to foreign-inspired institutions artificially transplanted to their soil.

Whether there is a new worldwide trend towards dismantling democratic structured as failed because of the local social terroir remains to be seen.