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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Thailand
Index
Figure 6. Siam in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth
Centuries.
Ruins of Khmer city of Phimai (thirteenth century) in
northeastern Thailand
Courtesy Tourism Authority of Thailand
Early in his reign, King Prajadhipok (Rama VII, 1925-35)
showed a tendency to share responsibility for political decision
making with his ministers. He also appointed an advisory council
to study the possibility of providing the country with a
constitution, but its royalist members advised against such a
measure. The civil bureaucracy, by contrast, considered the time
ripe for such a move. Siam faced severe economic problems because
of the world depression, which had caused a sharp drop in the
price of rice. Discontent among the political elite grew in
reaction to retrenchment in government spending, which
necessitated severe cutbacks in the numbers of civil servants and
military personnel, the demotion in rank of others, and the
cancellation of government programs.
Data as of September 1987
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