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Re-writing history, re-inscribing the city: Thailand and delusions of democracy

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  • Ross King

Abstract

Cities carry traces of their pasts; they also carry traces of imagined pasts, inscribed on them by authoritarian regimes to suppress other imaginings. Bangkok in the early 20th century displayed the signification of a Buddhist royalty and imagined origins, subsequently suppressed with the imposition of new emblems of democracy following a 1932 overthrow of monarchical absolutism. Democracy was to be signified as founded in the common people. In the 21st century, a military junta dressed in the clothes of a pseudo-democracy re-writes the emblems of democracy, now to signify that democracy is not based in the people but, rather, is the gift of a benevolent monarch. The subverting of democracy is to be read from the monuments of the city, which highlight the specific strategies that the authoritarian state invokes in re-writing the national history.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross King, 2023. "Re-writing history, re-inscribing the city: Thailand and delusions of democracy," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(7), pages 1391-1406, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:41:y:2023:i:7:p:1391-1406
    DOI: 10.1177/23996544231184348
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Herzfeld, 2017. "The blight of beautification: Bangkok and the pursuit of class-based urban purity," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 291-307, May.
    2. Thongchai Winichakul, 2008. "Nationalism and the Radical Intelligentsia in Thailand," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 575-591.
    3. Sidh Sintusingha & Ross King, 2021. "Nationalism and urban design: the parliament houses of Canberra and Bangkok," Journal of Urban Design, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 496-513, July.
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