Deciding the character and level of official patronage of religion are fundamental questions for all states. Yet we know next to nothing about the determinants of such patronage. Are democratic governments more or less inclined than autocratic ones to seek legitimacy through religious patronage? Is it ultimately ideological struggles that determine the extent of government backing of religion? This article addresses these questions through an analysis of the evolution of the state’s role as patron and protector of Buddhism (and other officially recognized religions) in Thailand. Specifically, it examines changes in government expenditure on Thailand’s religious bureaucracy from 1960 to 2016. It finds that democratization and ideological struggles have been the main drivers of a significant expansion of government spending on religious patronage.
Bueno de MesquitaBruceSmithAlastairSiversonRandolph MMorrowJames D (2003) The Logic of Political Survival. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
4.
ChavesMarkSchraederPeter JSprindysMario (1994) State Regulation of Religion and Muslim Religious Vitality in the Industrialized West. Journal of Politics56(4): 1087–1097.
5.
ChristensenScottDollarDavidSiamwallaAmmarVichyanondPakorn (1993) Thailand – The Lessons of East Asia: The Institutional and Political Underpinnings of Growth. Washington, DC: World Bank.
6.
Department of Religious Affairs (n.d.) Raingan kansatsana pracham pi 2513 [Annual report of religion activities for 1970]. Bangkok: Department of Religious Affairs, Ministry of Education.
7.
DriessenMichael T (2014) Religion and Democratization: Framing Religious and Political Identities in Muslim and Catholic Societies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
8.
FoxJonathan (2006) World Separation of Religion and State into the 21st Century. Comparative Political Studies39(5): 537–569.
9.
FoxJonathan (2015) Political Secularism, Religion, and the State: A Time Series Analysis of Worldwide Data. New York: Cambridge University Press.
10.
GabaudeLouis (1996) La Triple Crise Du Bouddhisme en Thaïlande (1990–1996) [The triple crisis of Buddhism in Thailand (1990–1996)]. Bulletin De L’Ecole Française D’Extrême-Orient83: 247–253.
11.
GeddesBarbaraWrightJosephFrantzErika (2014) Autocratic Breakdown and Regime Transitions: A new data set. Perspectives on Politics12(2): 313–331.
12.
GillAnthony (2007) The Political Origins of Religious Liberty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13.
GrayChristine E (1986) Thailand: The Soteriological State in the 1970s. PhD Dissertation, University of Chicago, USA.
14.
GrimBrian JFinkeRoger (2006) International Religion Indexes: Government regulation, government favoritism, and social regulation of religion. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion2: 1–40.
15.
JacksonPeter A (1989) Buddhism, Legitimation, and Conflict: The Political Functions of Urban Thai Buddhism. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
16.
KatewadeeKulabkaew (2013) In Defense of Buddhism: Thai Sangha’s Social Movement in the Twenty-First Century. PhD Dissertation, Waseda University, Japan.
17.
KeyesCharles F (1989) Buddhist Politics and their Revolutionary Origins in Thailand. International Political Science Review10(2): 121–142.
18.
KinnvallCatarina (2004) Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, identity, and the search for ontological security. Political Psychology25(5): 741–767.
19.
KuruAhmet T (2007) Passive and Assertive Secularism: Historical conditions, ideological struggles, and state policies toward religion. World Politics59(4): 568–594.
20.
KusaJulian (2007) Crisis Discourse, Response, and Structural Contradictions in Thai Buddhism, 1990–2003. PhD Dissertation, Australian National University.
21.
LarssonTomas (2016) Keeping Monks in Their Place?Asian Journal of Law and Society3(1): 17–28.
22.
LevitskyStevenWayLucan A (2010) Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. New York: Cambridge University Press.
23.
McCargoDuncan (1997) Chamlong Srimuang and the New Thai Politics. London: Hurst.
24.
McCargoDuncan (2008) Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
25.
McCargoDuncan (2012) The Changing Politics of Thailand’s Buddhist Order. Critical Asian Studies44(4): 627–642.
26.
MezeyMichael L (1973) The 1971 Coup in Thailand: Understanding why the legislature fails. Asian Survey13(3): 306–317.
27.
MohamadMaznah (2010) The Ascendance of Bureaucratic Islam and the Secularization of the Sharia in Malaysia. Pacific Affairs83(3): 505–524.
28.
NeherClark D (1971) Thailand: Toward fundamental change. Asian Survey11(2): 131–138.
29.
NorrisPippaInglehartRonald (2011) Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
30.
PhillipsHerbert P (1958) The Election Ritual in a Thai Village. Journal of Social Issues14(4): 36–50.
31.
SezginYükselKünklerMirjam (2014) Regulation of ‘Religion’ and the ‘Religious’: The politics of judicialization and bureaucratization in India and Indonesia. Comparative Studies in Society and History56(2): 448–478.
32.
SomboonSuksamran (1977) Political Buddhism in Southeast Asia: The Role of Sangha in the Modernization of Thailand. London: C Hurst & Company.
33.
StepanAlfred (2011) The Multiple Secularisms of Modern Democratic and Non-Democratic Regimes. In CalhounCraigJurgensmeyerMarkVanantwerpenJonathan (eds) Rethinking Secularism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 114–144.
34.
SuwannaSatha-anand (2003) Buddhist Pluralism and Religious Tolerance in Democratizing Thailand. In CamPhilip (ed.) Philosophy, Democracy, and Education. Seoul: Korean National Commission for UNESCO, 193–213.
35.
TaylorJim (1993) Buddhist Revitalization, Modernization, and Social Change in Contemporary Thailand. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia8(1): 62–91.
36.
ThakChaloemtiarana (2007) Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program Publications.
37.
TraunmüllerRichardFreitagMarkus (2011) State Support of Religion: Making or breaking faith-based social capital?Comparative Political Studies43(3): 253–269.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
