Thai vs U.S Constitution

The U.S constitution was written and signed by a group of men that wanted independence from Britain. The U.S Constitution starts off with the basic precepts of the English Governance along with an american twist of three branches of government that acts to check and balance each other. The Constitution sets out three distinct branches of the national government: The Executive (the President), The Legislative Branch (Congress), and the Judicial Branch (The Supreme Court). Then we also have the First Ten Amendments, known as the Bill of Rights that spells out the rights of individual citizens in contrast to the establishment of powers of the federal government. The U.S Constitution basically reflects our democratic beliefs. Whereas in Thailand, they also have similar beliefs to us, their constitution called “Rattha Thammanun Haeng Ratcha Anachak Thai,” which provides the basic set of laws in Thailand. Since Thailand has been under the rule of democratic government with the King as head of the state for more than 75 years, during which several constitutions were promulgated and amended. Until 2007, where the Thai Constitution was replaced by one written by a group of drafter appointed by the army-led Council of National Security.  The main objective of the new Constitution is to further promote and protect the rights and liberty of the people, encouraging people to participate in the administration of the country cross examining the powers, similar to the U.S Constitution. The major difference between the Thai Constitution is that the Thai King is still extremely protected in their Constitution, stating the King still has power among the people, stated in Section 8 (The King shall be enthroned in a position of revered worship and shall not be violated.

No person shall expose the King to any sort of accusation or action.) However it is limited by Section 3 stating (“The sovereign power belongs to the Thai people. The King as Head of the State shall exercise such power through the National Assembly, the Council of Ministers and the Courts in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”). The major major difference in the two is how the Thai Constitution also focus on religion unlike the U.S’s.

JOYCE LU G BAND