The Thailand Crisis: Internal and Regional Repercussions

This essay is divided into five parts, in which the author explains the causes and consequences of the crisis in Thailand from the perspective of a Mexican diplomat who experienced the events personally. In the first section, Dueñas determines the economic crisis as a result of growing political instability. The second section describes how Thailand went from being an underdeveloped country to a country with a growing, dynamic, open economy due, among other things, to expansion of Japanese investments at the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties. The third one deals with Thailand’s economic crisis as a result of the political conflicts that devastated the country. Power disputes, corruption, political parties without solid bases or ideology, as well as military coups, created lack of continuity in the country’s administration and governments more concerned with political than financial problems. All this led to an acute economic crisis. The fourth section refers to the consequences of the Thailand’s crisis inside and outside the country. In this respect, the author highlights the political impact, such as the end of Chavalit Yongchayudh and Chatichai Choonhavan’s leadership, two men largely responsible for the precarious economic situation. Regionally, the Thailand crisis detonated the crisis in other countries in the region. The author concludes that, after all, the crisis had a positive side, as it was a decisive factor in political reform and facilitated approval of a new constitution. In this sense, the article encourages the reader to think about the political and social effects of economic crises, even internationally, inasmuch as the crisis in Thailand had serious implications in the economies not only of the region, but of other latitudes as well.