Michael H. Nelson | My Home (original) (raw)

Books by Michael H. Nelson

Reports by Michael H. Nelson

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PPRP 12 PT 9 FFP 9 Uncertainty in first elections after the 2014 coup with a coup party participa... more PPRP 12 PT 9 FFP 9 Uncertainty in first elections after the 2014 coup with a coup party participating (PPRP)

This paper adds to my analysis of the drafting of the election system that occurred in the Consti... more This paper adds to my analysis of the drafting of the election system that occurred in the Constitution Drafting Committee of 2007 (Nelson 2010, Nelson 2013a). It also complements my paper on the political attitudes that the members of the 2007 CDC held regarding voters, Members of Parliament, and political parties (Nelson 2013b). For a policy perspective based on the same set of sources, see Ploy Suebvises (2010). 2 The sources concern the first CDC meeting that substantively turned to drafting the election system of the 2016 Constitution, that is, meeting no. 14 on 26 October 2015. That the intentions of constitution-making and its effects can be wide apart should have given the CDC's chairperson, Meechai Ruchuphan, a sense of déjà vu. He also chaired the CDC after the military coup of 1991. One of the most controversial elements of the constitution that he helped design concerned the stipulation that the prime minister did not need to be a member of the House. This paved the way for coup leader Suchinda Kraprayoon to become prime minister, followed by mass protests, and a bloody crackdown of the military on the protesters, known as "Black May 1992."

According to the foreword by Chumphol, this plan was prepared according to the then-valid constit... more According to the foreword by Chumphol, this plan was prepared according to the then-valid constitution. It was established by an order of the office of the prime minister 118/2538 dated August 8, 1995 (not even two weeks after the government's policy statement), and signed by Banharn.

Bibliographies by Michael H. Nelson

Papers by Michael H. Nelson

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King Prajadhipok's Institute Journal of Democracy and Governance

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PPRP 12 PT 9 FFP 9 Uncertainty in first elections after the 2014 coup with a coup party participa... more PPRP 12 PT 9 FFP 9 Uncertainty in first elections after the 2014 coup with a coup party participating (PPRP)

This paper adds to my analysis of the drafting of the election system that occurred in the Consti... more This paper adds to my analysis of the drafting of the election system that occurred in the Constitution Drafting Committee of 2007 (Nelson 2010, Nelson 2013a). It also complements my paper on the political attitudes that the members of the 2007 CDC held regarding voters, Members of Parliament, and political parties (Nelson 2013b). For a policy perspective based on the same set of sources, see Ploy Suebvises (2010). 2 The sources concern the first CDC meeting that substantively turned to drafting the election system of the 2016 Constitution, that is, meeting no. 14 on 26 October 2015. That the intentions of constitution-making and its effects can be wide apart should have given the CDC's chairperson, Meechai Ruchuphan, a sense of déjà vu. He also chaired the CDC after the military coup of 1991. One of the most controversial elements of the constitution that he helped design concerned the stipulation that the prime minister did not need to be a member of the House. This paved the way for coup leader Suchinda Kraprayoon to become prime minister, followed by mass protests, and a bloody crackdown of the military on the protesters, known as "Black May 1992."

According to the foreword by Chumphol, this plan was prepared according to the then-valid constit... more According to the foreword by Chumphol, this plan was prepared according to the then-valid constitution. It was established by an order of the office of the prime minister 118/2538 dated August 8, 1995 (not even two weeks after the government's policy statement), and signed by Banharn.

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King Prajadhipok's Institute Journal of Democracy and Governance

For Rüdiger -our teacher, colleague, and friend Sandra Kurfürst is a junior professor at the inst... more For Rüdiger -our teacher, colleague, and friend Sandra Kurfürst is a junior professor at the institute of South-and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Cologne. Stefanie Wehner (PhD) is a member of administrative staff at the University of Passau, responsible for quality assurance and sustainability.

In: Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia Edited by Marco Buente, Bjoern Dressel © 2017 –... more In:
Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia
Edited by Marco Buente, Bjoern Dressel

© 2017 – Routledge

Die Diskussionen über das Wahlsystem zum Repräsentantenhaus in der thailändischen Verfassung von ... more Die Diskussionen über das Wahlsystem zum Repräsentantenhaus in der thailändischen Verfassung von 2007 1 Der folgende Text über einen Aspekt der thailändischen Verfassung des Jahres 2007, die von einem 35-köpfigen Komitee von hochrangigen Beamten im Auftrag der Generäle geschrieben wurde, die im September 2006 gewaltsam die Macht ergriffen hatten, 2 hat eine unerwartete Aktualität durch einen erneuten Militärputsch erhalten, der am 22. Mai 2014 erfolgte. Wie üblich wurde in dessen Folge die Verfassung weitgehend außer Kraft gesetzt. Bevor die Generälefrüher oder später-die Macht an das Volk zurückgeben werden, muss daher eine neue Verfassung geschrieben werden, von der erwartet wird, dass sie den politischen Auffassungen des Militärs und den mit ihm verbundenen Kreisen der Bevölkerung Rechnung trägt. Einer der wichtigsten Streitpunkte in diesem Zusammenhang wird das Wahlsystem zum Repräsentantenhaus als zentralem Element der repräsentativen politischen Ordnung sein. In den Beratungen des Verfassungskomitees des Jahres 2007 (CDC, oder constitution drafting committee) spielten hier Auffassungen und Diskussionen über die politische Kultur Thailands, vor allem die Bedeutungen von Wählern, Mitgliedern des Repräsentantenhauses (oder Politiker im Allgemeinen), sowie politischer Parteien eine wichtige Rolle. 3 Von großer systematischer (und politischer) Wichtigkeit war die Auseinandersetzung darüber, ob das seit der Verfassung von 1997 existierende segmentierte Wahlsystem (eine Kombination von 400 in Einerwahlkreisen nach Mehrheitswahlrecht gewählten Abgeordneten mit 100 nach Proportionalwahlrecht von nationalen Parteilisten rekrutierten Angeordneten) durch eine personalisierte Verhältniswahl nach deutschem und neuseeländischem Muster ersetzt werden sollte. Nach monatelanger Debatte unterlag diese zweite Variante in der entscheidenden Abstimmung nur knapp. 4 Neben diesen beiden eher grundlegenden Themen wurde auch über eine Reihe von Details des Wahlsystemdesigns diskutiert, 5 hauptsächlich die Frage, ob man von einer einzigen nationalen zu einer Anzahl regionaler Parteilisten wechseln sollte, ob man zu den vor der Verfassung von 1997 existierenden Mehrpersonenwahlkreisen zurückkehren sollte, und ob man die Auszählung von den mit der Verfassung von 1997 eingeführten zentralen Wahlkreisauszählungsstationen in die Wahllokale zurückverlegen sollte. Ich werde in diesem Zusammenhang auch einige

"Good Coup" Gone Bad: Thailand's Political Developments since Thaksin's Downfall, ed. by Pavin Chachavalpongpun, pp. 141-169. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS)., 2014

Contemporary Southeast Asia 36 (1): 51-76, 2014, Apr 2014

One key component of modern constitutions is the representative system. The often-contested codif... more One key component of modern constitutions is the representative system. The often-contested codification of this system over time in democratizing political orders depends on a number of factors, such as the existing institutional setting, the power relations of important political actors, and the ideational resources, or political culture, available to the constitution drafters. This article examines the ideational resources drawn on by the members of Thailand's 2007 Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) in debating and deciding the shape of the National Assembly's upper house, the Senate. This is mainly done by analysing the word-by-word minutes of their meetings. The respective processes of the 1997 CDC are described more briefly in order to provide background on an area of constitutional contestation that found its

E-International Relations, Mar 4, 2014

Contemporary Southeast Asian Dynamics Working Paper Series No.11, Mainland Southeast Asian Studies, Passau University, Apr 2013

SEARC Working Paper No. 140 (60 pages), Feb 2013

A novel that I briefly presented earlier (Adelle Waldman's Help Wanted) was called a "workplace n... more A novel that I briefly presented earlier (Adelle Waldman's Help Wanted) was called a "workplace novel." Samantha Harvey's Orbital, in a sense, is also a workplace novel, though its choice of setting is even more unusual. Or has there been any previous novel on the international space station and its personnel? There are four astronauts on this station (Nell, Chie, Shaun, and Pietro) and two cosmonauts, as they are called in Russia (Anton and Roman). Obviously, this is not a novel about the group dynamics among the six of them. After all, they are highly specialized and trained individuals from Russia, the United States, Japan and Italy, who were chosen, among other criteria, for their balanced personalities, who had proven their capacity to live largely conflict free under cramped conditions in zero gravity. Harvey writes, "Don't

Some time ago I read the author's The Weekend (see my related note). Since I was less than impres... more Some time ago I read the author's The Weekend (see my related note). Since I was less than impressed by that text, I did not expect to read another of her novels until the Booker Prize committee not only longlisted her Stone Yard Devotional, but also shortlisted it in 2024. In this novel, an unnamed female first-person narrator describes her everyday life in a small isolated Catholic convent in Australia. At first, she spent a few days there several times, before she decided to live there for good. On page 283, she recounts how her dying mother's doctor-the author alternates stories about the protagonist's life in the convent with events from her earlier life, including a running self-conversation with her mother-prescribed her a tranquillizer. She adds, "Thinking of this now, I find it remarkable that I never took any of the pills myself." In

When page numbers are given in the text below, they refer to the English translation of the text.... more When page numbers are given in the text below, they refer to the English translation of the text. This book belongs to the genre of testimonies by Jewish people who survived the Holocaust in Auschwitz or another concentration camp. It is therefore similar to Margot Friedlander's book "Try to Make Your Life." A Jewish Girl in Hiding in Nazi Berlin. A Memoir. Both books were very successful in Germany. As of December 2023, Friedlander's text has seen 16 printings, while Klüger's book has been printed 31 times. Friedlander was captured in Berlin, Klüger in Vienna. Their writing styles are quite different. The former provides a straightforward narrative; the latter, who was a university professor of German literature in the United States, mixes her narrative with reflections and interpretations. Two other books in this series of book recommendations also deal with the Holocaust. Michael Frank's One Hundred Saturdays tells the moving story of Stella Levi and the destruction of the Juderia of Rhodes, then part of Italy. Anne Berest's The Postcard is a best-selling novel about her relatives, the Rabinovich family, who were sent from France to Auschwitz and murdered there.

This book won the International Booker Prize in 2024. But since I am German, I took the opportuni... more This book won the International Booker Prize in 2024. But since I am German, I took the opportunity to read it in my native language. Most of the novel is about a two-year love story between a very unlikely couple. Hans is a 53-year-old successful writer. He is married with a son. He also has a penchant for extramarital affairs, with some tendency toward sadistic practices. Katharina is 19 years old. Before falling madly in love with Hans and believing that all her happiness depends on her relationship with him, she had only a few brief relationships with boys her age, though she is open to relationships with women. Both live in East Berlin, the capital of what was then the German Democratic Republic. The reader learns little more about Katharina than that she is so incredibly "happy" with Hans, while Hans seems to treat her like an

This is the second novel about people living in an authoritarian/totalitarian political system th... more This is the second novel about people living in an authoritarian/totalitarian political system that I have recently read. The first one was Celeste Ng's "Our Missing Hearts." It is about a fictional USA in times of anti-Chinese racism (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 376303904_Celeste_Ng_2022_Our_Missing_Hearts_London_Abacus_Books_335_pp). Paul Lynch's novel-which won the Booker Prize 2023-turns Ireland into a fictional totalitarian state. Where Ng's writing is direct and clear, a reviewer praised Lynch for his "beautiful, lyrical prose." The following quote from p. 176 might serve as an example:

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All those who have watched the hit TV-series "Killing Eve" will be well-familiar with the key pro... more All those who have watched the hit TV-series "Killing Eve" will be well-familiar with the key protagonists (and adversaries, with ambivalent bonds developing among them), Villanelle and Eve Polastri. The former is a highly and intelligent skilled female contract killer, who has a photographic memory, but no empathy, no feelings of guilt, no consciousness, and no ability to enter social relationships. In her mind, she has a folder with all sorts of social situations and the required behavior in them. She can imitate that behavior, but she cannot feel it. She is also a sexmaniac, with no clear preference for either males or females. She was born Oxana Borisovna Vorontsova, daughter of a Russian police officer. When he was killed by a gang of criminals

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The author's starting point is found right in the first two sentences of her foreword to the book... more The author's starting point is found right in the first two sentences of her foreword to the book: "America is at a crossroads. A country that once stood as the global symbol of democracy has been teetering on the brink of authoritarianism." Of course, this danger has a name as well as a date: Donald Trump's possible reelection as the US president in November 2024. At the time of writing this brief book description (8 January 2024), opinion polls indicate that Trump leads a handful of other Republicans by a large margin. However, the problem is not limited to Trump. Rather, it includes the Republican party, which has changed from being merely conservative to being more of a radicalized right-wing political party (like populist-right wing parties in other countries, but with American characteristics). The reason seems to be that many voterssubjected to economic, social, political, or religious changes-have become frustrated by the feeling of having been left behind. This "makes them vulnerable to leaders who promise to make them dominant again. A strongman downplays the real conditions that have created their problems and tells them that the only reason they have been dispossessed is that enemies have cheated them of power" (p. xii). This leader's propaganda becomes "central to their identity" (ibid.). However, Richardson, being a historian, digs deeper. She goes back to the Declaration of Independence and its statement that all people are created equal, and that government must be

This novel tells the story of three generations of an Afro-Brazilian family living on a plantatio... more This novel tells the story of three generations of an Afro-Brazilian family living on a plantation called Água Negra, located in the hinterland of Bahia, one of Brazil's 26 states, located in its Northeast. Some of the black workers on the plantation refer to themselves as Quilombolas, a name for escaped slaves in colonial Brazil. Though they are free at the time the novel is set, their living conditions have changed very little. They are not paid for working the land of the

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A fuller treatment of the issues dealt with in this talk can be found in my paper on "Some Observ... more A fuller treatment of the issues dealt with in this talk can be found in my paper on "Some Observations on Democracy in Thailand" in the paper section above.

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This PPP provides some slides about the dual Thai polity, as detailed in the paper "Some Observat... more This PPP provides some slides about the dual Thai polity, as detailed in the paper "Some Observations on Democracy in Thailand" (this can be downloaded from the paper section above).

Faculty of Political Science Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand , Jun 2005

Lecture notes on Niklas Luhmann's theory of the legal system, 9 November 2020 Luhmann's universit... more Lecture notes on Niklas Luhmann's theory of the legal system, 9 November 2020 Luhmann's university education was in the field of law (1946 to 1949, Faculty of Law, University of Freiburg, followed by a time as trainee lawyer, or Rechtsreferendar), and he worked for a number of years both in court administration and in political administration. Thus, he had an academic and practical insider perspective of law, both in theory and in practice. Luhmann had not originally intended to embark on a university career at all. So, when he was asked to join the University of Bielefeld, he still had neither a doctoral degree nor a habilitation ("second book"), both of which are required to become a full professor. Within one year, this problem was solved by two books that he had written earlier. Luhmann was one of the most original and productive sociological theorists of the 20 th century. His list of publications that I obtained from his secretary in January 1995 included 51 books and 375 articles. This list did not yet include his two-volume magnum opus "Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft" (literally "The Society of Society") which was published in 1997, about a year before his death. English translations appeared as Theory of Society in 2012 and 2013. The strange-sounding German title of this magnum opus is due to his 30-year project of developing a comprehensive sociological theory of society. He attempted nothing less than-not tried since Talcott Parsons (whose structural functionalism was the most influential macro sociological theory in the 1960s, and with whom Luhmann studied at Harvard for one year in 1960/61)-than writing "a universal theory for the discipline" of sociology. This project resulted in a great number of preliminary works.

Title -Abstract -Intro • The History of Democratization • The Conventional historiography (ประวห ... more Title -Abstract -Intro • The History of Democratization • The Conventional historiography (ประวห ตว ศาสตรร นว พนธร กระแสหลห ก) of democratization (การทท าใหห เปป นประชาธว ปไตย) > Thais were "not ready" for democracy in 1932 ("royalist historiography" ประวห ตว ศาสตรร นว พนธร แบบนว ยมเจห า late 1960s/early 1970s: กษห รว ยร ในระบอบสม บบ รณาญาสว ทธว ราชร เปป นผห บ ประทานระบอบประชาธว ปไตย)

This unofficial translation is provided as a public service through a collaboration of:

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, advertising pickup trucks drove around some areas of Chachoengsao inviting people to listen to ... more , advertising pickup trucks drove around some areas of Chachoengsao inviting people to listen to speeches by Chaturon Chaisaeng and Adisorn Piangket. Under their new label of "House Number 111" (ban lek thi 111), they were to set up a stage behind the vocational college of Chachoengsao, along the Bang Pakong river. One day later, I found that many shops around the area of the old market (which belongs, by the way, to the Crown Property Bureau, and is thus not managed by the municipality, although it represents the old center of the town) had received leaflets of the group pointing to the main theme of the event, "Fair elections are the solution for Thailand" (picture 1). At the bottom of the leaflet, people are asked "Listen to the dissection of the NSC [National Security Council, the coup group], the ECT [Election Commission of Thailand], and the AEC [Asset Examination Committee]-Don't miss it!!!" Picture 1 The number 111 refers to the 111 former members of the executive board of the Thai Rak Thai party. When TRT was dissolved, these members lost certain political rights, according to article 69 of the Political Party Act of 1998 (article 97 in the 2007 version), which says "a person who used to be a member of the Executive Committee of the dissolved political party shall not form a new political party, be a member of an Executive Committee of political party nor be a promoter of a new political party under

Michael H. Nelson. 2007. “Thailand’s Election of December 23, 2007: Pictorial Impressions from C... more Michael H. Nelson. 2007. “Thailand’s Election of December 23, 2007: Pictorial Impressions from Chachoengsao Province.” Series of ten reports comprising 16,754 words and 101 pictures that appeared on the blog New Mandala: New Perspectives on Mainland Southeast Asia (Australian National University, Research School for Pacific and Asian Studies).

This post is part of New Mandala's month-long feature on Thailand's constitution referendum. The ... more This post is part of New Mandala's month-long feature on Thailand's constitution referendum. The referendum will be held on 19 August 2007.

, the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) led representatives of political parties to the Templ... more , the Election Commission of Thailand (ECT) led representatives of political parties to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok in order to pledge that they would conduct their election campaigns honestly and fairly. In an editorial, The Nation (November 17, 2007) strongly criticized this event as an appeal by the ECT to "supernatural powers," instead of using its legal means to make the election clean and fair. The editorial stated, "Organizing the oath-taking ceremony made the EC look unprofessional and desperate, and it does not inspire public confidence." In fact, this ceremony was not a stand-alone event. Rather, the ECT had devised the khrongkan lueaktang choeng samanachan (project for elections with one opinion) many months ago as an attempt to reduce illegal practices and complaints in the hundreds of local elections the provincial election commissions (PEC) had to organize this year. The project was thus implemented country-wide. In July this year, I had the opportunity to participate in such an event held at the Buddhist temple of tambon (municipality) Ko Khanun in Phanom Sarakham district, Chachoengsao province. This was an elaborate Buddhist ritual, including chanting, that took about two hours. Picture 1 shows the two competing groups of candidates taking the oath.

Michael H. Nelson. 2007. “Thailand’s Constitution Referendum: Pictorial Impressions from Chachoen... more Michael H. Nelson. 2007. “Thailand’s Constitution Referendum: Pictorial Impressions from Chachoengsao Province.” Series of five articles comprising 5,155 words and 33 pictures that appeared on the blog New Mandala: New Perspectives on Mainland Southeast Asia (Australian National University, Research School for Pacific and Asian Studies).

This post is part of New Mandala's month-long feature on Thailand's 2007 constitution referendum.... more This post is part of New Mandala's month-long feature on Thailand's 2007 constitution referendum. Full-steam campaigning does not seem to be on the cards in Chachoengsao. Chaturon Chaisaeng did not turn up as promised at a discussion of the draft constitution held on August 1 at the Rajaphat University. He cancelled his appearance at 5 pm the day before, saying he had to go abroad. An observer, however, argued that Chaturon's role in Thai Rak Thai (now Phalang Prachachon) had been greatly diminished. Since it was not sure for which political party his family members would run in the election, it was not advisable to vigorously campaign for the former Thai Rak Thai's cause against the constitution. Only about twenty ordinary citizens took part in the seminar that saw both the "yes" and the "no" vote options represented. Leaflets produced by the Constitution Drafting Assembly and Thai Rak Thai were distributed. Image 1: Referendum leaflets