"Right to Protect the Constitution" in the Thai Constitutional System: The Mutation Effect of Constitutional Transplants?

Abstract

This research aims to reread the purpose and background of the provisions on “rights to protect the Constitution” in the Thai constitutional system, by comparing with a principle of militant democracy in the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany. Three safeguards in the German constitution will be considered, namely the forfeiture of basic rights, the dissolution of political parties and the right of resistance. From the comparative perspective, those provisions in the Thai constitutional system are examples of the migration of constitutional ideas from abroad, but when considering an explanation and practice of such ideas in the Thai constitutional system, the “Thai-style” meaning is very different from the original meaning. It seems to be that this transplantation leads to the “mutation effect”.