The Travails of Thailand
Thailand has just suffered its third judicial coup in six years. This week the Constitutional Court ordered the removal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and nine of her cabinet ministers for replacing a national security adviser held over from a previous administration. In so ruling, the judges read into the Constitution constraints on the government’s powers that have little basis in the document.
Ms. Yingluck’s ouster may seem like one more spasm in Thailand’s protracted political crisis. But it is far more ominous than that. The judicial removal of an elected prime minister on political grounds is emblematic of the no-holds-barred approach of her opponents, not only in the political arena but also at nominally independent institutions.… Seguir leyendo »