Constitutional Bricolage

Eugénie Mérieau is Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.

As a work that explains in depth the evolution of monarchical domination over Thailand’s various constitutions, it is unsurpassed.

• 1. Introduction: Is Thailand a Constitutional Monarchy? I. The Purpose and General Argument of the Book: Why the Thai Constitution Matters II. The Issue of Royal Prerogatives in a Constitutional Monarchy: Text, Conventions and Doctrines III. Sacred Monarchy vs. the Rule of Law: The Interplay of Law and Religion Mediated through Kingship IV. Constitutional Bricolage: The Indeterminacy of Legal Transplants and their Political Re-assignments V. Outline of the Chapters PART IIMPORTING THE MODERN CONSTITUTION2. Siam’s First Constitutions: The Rise and Fall of the Sacred Monarchy I. The Hindu-Khmer Origins of the Traditional Constitution II. The 1889, 1926 and 1932 Draft Constitutions: The Bonapartist and British Tropes III. The 1932 Constitutions: The Soviet/Chinese and Prussian/Japanese Influences 3. Legal Positivism and Buddhist Kingship: Establishing the King as the Source of the Constitution I. Hindu-Buddhist Theories: The Devaraja and Dharmaraja Kings II. The European Influence: Importing Doctrines of Royal Absolutism III. From the European Doctrine of ‘Royal Octroy’ to the King’s Granted Rattathammanun 4. From the Sacred Monarchy to the Sacred Constitution I. Royal Despotism, Theocracy and Sacred Law II. Royal Reforms: The Westernisation of Law and Kingship III. Royal Vetoes and Amnesties versus the Sacred Constitution PART IIIMPORTING THE STATE OF EMERGENCY5. Thailand’s Cold War Constitutions: Constitutions for the Military I. The 1947–1949 Constitutions: The Royalist Restoration and the Rejection of the British ModelII. The 1959, 1968 and 1972 Constitutions: Military Dictatorship and the Gaullist Inspiration III. The 1974–1991 Constitutions: The US Influence on Military Dictatorship under Royal Command? 6. Revolutionary Legality and Buddhist Kingship: Theorising the King’s Extra-Constitutional Powers in Times of Crisis I. From Kelsen’s Revolutionary Legality to Thai-Style Democracy II. From Bagehot’s Three Conventional Powers of the Monarch to the Invention of Thai Constitutional CustomsIII. Revolutionary Legality Revised: The Doctrine of Shared Sovereignty between the King, the Military and the People 7. From Military Dictatorship to Military Dictatorship under (Sacred) Royal CommandI. The Monarchy against the Military: Practices of Royal Constitutional Veto II. The Monarchy on Top of the Military: Royally Sanctioned Military Coups and Amnesty Laws for Coup-Makers III. The Monarchy above the Military: Direct Royal Interventions against Military Juntas PART IIIIMPORTING CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE8. Thailand’s Post-Cold War Constitutions: Constitutions for the Judiciary I. The 1997 Constitution: The Transformative ‘Global South’ Constitution II. The 2007 Constitution: Juristocracy under US Inspiration? III. The 2017 Constitution: Juristocracy and Military Dictatorship under Royal Command 9. The Rule of Law and Buddhist Kingship: Turning the Constitutional Court into a Substitute King I. From the Rejection of the British Practice of the Royal Prerogative to the Creation of a Constitutional Court Ruling in the Name of the King II. From US-Style Judicial Activism to ‘Judicialisation’: Transferring the King’s Extra-ConstitutionalPowers to the Constitutional Court III. From Global Discourses on the Rule of Law and Good Governance to the Doctrine of Dharmaraja Governance 10. From Judicialisation at the King’s Request to Juristocracy under Royal Command I. Judicialisation at the King’s Request: Practices of Direct and Indirect Royal Vetoes II. More Judicialisation at the King’s Request: The Constitutional Court Defines ‘DKHS’ and its Customs III. Royal Constitutional Vetoes, Lèse-Majesté and ‘DKHS’: The Affirmation of the Royal Prerogative 11. Conclusion: Democracy with the King as Head of State: The Bricolage of Thai Constitutional Identity I. Summary of the Book’s Contribution: Bricolage as a Process and Method in Comparative Constitutional Law II. Taking Textual Provisions Seriously: On the Royal Prerogative and Constitutional Conventions III. Taking Local Doctrine Seriously: On the Power of Legal Ideas and the Use of Religion to Localise Legal Transplants IV. Taking Constitutional Practices Seriously: On Political Precedents and the Performativity of ConstitutionalStory-telling V. Epilogue: Thailand and the Possibility of Decentring Comparative Constitutional Law