Abstract
After the end of World War II, Southeast Asia became a field of international conflicts, which climaxed with the Vietnam War. Southeast Asia saw its own version of the Cold War, during which period the United States of America created several “penetrated systems” in the region. A “penetrated system” means a political system whose administrative function, budgeting, maintenance of stability and security and, sometimes, even legitimatization are achieved, supplemented or reinforced by the intervention of foreign actors. This type of political system implies amalgamation of interests on the part of a major power, which aims to intervene for strategic purposes, and a weaker state whose leadership must rely on external intervention for its own security and survival.
Thailand after 1950 was a typical “penetrated system.” The nature of military regimes in Thailand was conducive to intervention in many sectors of the society by the United States of America. With its strategic position vis-a-vis communist China and Indochina, Thailand had to be a bastion of the American military presence. Accordingly, the Thai political system became a typical “penetrated system,” which lasted until the debacle of Vietnam in 1975.
This essay, which has three parts, tries to clarify the concept of a “penetrated system” and then to verify that Thailand was a typical case of such a system. The final part analyses empirically the final phase of the Thanoom's military regime, which marked the apex of external penetration.
