Political Education:
The Role of Political Parties
in Educating Civil Society on Politics

Mahidol University

Political Education: The Role of Political Parties in
Educating Civil Society on Politics
Punchada Sirivunnabood
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University
Corresponding author: punchada.sir@mahidol.ac.th
Abstract
This study uses extensive field research to compare and contrast
the political education that political parties provide for their members andpeople. The researcher focuses on two political parties: the Democrat Party
and the Puea Fah Din Party based on four important reasons: 1) both parties
have constantly played significant roles in Thai politics for a long periodof time; 2) both parties have apparent organization and internal structure;3) both parties have the accurate number of party members as well as party
branches in the past years; and 4) both parties have organized more or lesspolitical education for their party members and the public. The research
result reveals that due to the differences in the objectives of party formation,
political ideology, political participation and the strategy to recruit
members, the two parties experience distinctive procedures to conduct
political education for their members and public in general. While thePuea Fah Din Party was founded and has been working with the Asoke
Community as a means to represent Asoke in politics rather than winningthe elections, the Democrat Party was founded by political elites and aims
to win the elections. As a result, the Puea Fah Din Party conduct activities
on political education in order to strengthen party’s ideology among
members. The Democrat Party, on the other hand, organize politicalactivities to education people in general about party’s policy with a hope
to win the elections.
Keywords: Political Party; Political Ideology;Asoke; Political         Education;Thailand
Silpakorn University Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts
Vol.16(3) : 157 - 194, 2016

Political Education: The Role of Political Parties

Punchada Sirivunnabood

Introduction
This research aims to compare and contrast the provision ofpolitical education between the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Partyin terms of approaches and effectiveness of political education provision
for party members and the public. The researcher studied these twopolitical parties owing to the four important reasons which are (1) bothparties have played significant roles in Thai politics for a long periodof time. Although Puea Fah Din Party was established in 2000,
but   it is a small partywhich has been prolonged growing alongside
Thailand unlike other small political parties that tended to bedissolved after the election. Moreover, Peua Fah Din Party has
played a significant role in political activities, especially during
the political crises in Thailand; (2) Both parties had establishedapparent organizational management and internal structures. In otherwords, they had offices, staffs, party branches, and within the party
branches, there were authentic party branch executives, staff andoffices unlike other small political parties that established party branches,but in some areas, their offices and staff are not existed; (3) Bothparties have a stable amount of party members throughout the past
eight years.; (4) Both partieshave provided more or less politicaleducation for their party members and general people. This research,
therefore, had formulated four important objectives as follows:
1. To compare and contrast the current situation of the Democrat
Party and Puea Fah Din Party on how to provide political education for
their party members, party supporters, and the public in general.
2. To study the effectiveness of political education programs
provided by the two political parties for the public.
3. To examine the role of political education for party members
towards the establishment of party affiliation.
4. To explore the relationship between political education provided
by the parties and how that political education stimulate party members,
party supporters, and people to participate in politics.

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Review Literature
General Knowledge about Political Education and Political
Parties
Political Education“Political education” is often perceived as a part of politicalsocialization in the field of education and political science. It is a crucial
element for developing and strengthening democratic societies as well asa prerequisite tool for the political parties’ accomplishment. In the area of
education, according to Kenneth Prewitt, the Carnegie Professor of Public
Affairs and Vice-President for Global Centers, Columbia University,
programs of political education are served as the foundation of instillingthe values appropriate for the citizens (1971). On the other hand, politicalscientists refer it to a framework of the government’s activities aimed formobilizing the tasks of nation-building and public inclusion, including
the political parties’ activities (Olaniyi, 2001). That is to say, politicaleducation influences and shapes people politically as active members ofa social and political system (KASYP, n.d.). Westheimer and Kahne (2004)
stated in their study called “Educating the “Good” Citizen: Political
Choices and Pedagogical Goals” that political education focuses onlearning how the democratic system of government works, aims at teaching
how interest groups pursue their goals, and analyzes power processes inpolitical, economic and other institutions. In this research, the concept ofpolitical education is, hence, defined as a weapon of political integrationthat connects national citizens in general with the political parties. The
distinction between political education and citizenship education is thatthe latter comprises both political and moral education. However, it isoften concluded that political education is relevant to voter education,
electoral election, and citizenship education.
Different from political education, “voter education” refers toactivities designed for assisting the election administration to deliver a
free, fair, efficient and cost-effective election. It provides the basic voter
information like background attitudes, behavior, and knowledge among
the citizens in order to vote properly and recognize the importance of159

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participating in elections, especially in comply with basic human rights
and voting rights, the role, responsibilities and rights of voters, therelationship between elections and democracy, and the conditions necessary
for democratic elections. This also includes the education on a peacefulelection, acceptance of the results, and tolerance of competition andopposition (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, 2012). Other basic voter
information comprises of “the date, time, and place of voting, the type ofelection, identification necessary to establish eligibility, registration
requirements, and mechanisms for voting”. These constitute basic facts
about the election and do not require the explanation of concepts (Ibid).
Voter education is also crucial for political parties because it aims topromote electoral accountability in which voters are encouraged to use
campaigns as favorable circumstances to voice their demands to candidates.
For example, voter education activities could include meetings wherevoters question candidates, and radio or TV shows where studio audiences
and phone callers can send in their inquiries to the candidates (Charney,2003).
“Electoral education” is sometimes referred to voter education, but
actually it is a broader term which involves not only current eligible voters,
but also future citizens in the education that covers all the aspects ofelections. Similar to voter education, electoral education focuses on voter’s
motivation and preparation to the full participation in elections. Its
programs aim to point out more complicated types of information about
voter and electoral processes, for instance, how votes translate into seats;
this kind of question cannot be answered just by looking at a statement offacts, but need learners’ insightful exploration and analysis. However,electoral education demands more lead time for practical exercises rather
than just voter information, and should be launched on an in-progress basis(International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2006).
“Civic education” is even more extended term compared to voter
education and electoral education because it is more continual and practiced
in a longer run. In other words, it is not tied to the electoral cycle only.
Civic education, which is sometimes called “citizenship education”, covers

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more extensive concepts constructing a democratic society. This includes
the relevant roles and responsibilities of citizens, government, politicaland special interests, the mass media, and the business and non-profit
sectors, and the importance of periodic and competitive elections. There
are three core components of civic education which emphasize citizen
awareness and citizen participation: civic knowledge, civic disposition orvalues, and civic skills. All of these elements help people acquire knowledge
and skills necessary for becoming informed, competent citizens. Unlike
voter education and electoral education, civic education is not necessarily
carried out by the election authority (International Institute for Democracy
and Electoral Assistance, 2006).
Political Educators
Generally, higher education institutions worldwide are known to bewhere political ideologies are shaped and embedded. Students are taught
to be politically educated and active, and have influenced politics within
their universities and in their countries altogether. Therefore, teachers
must be politically skillful and knowledgeable for socializing their students
politically (Boaduo, 2013). Factors affecting political education andsocialization in higher education institutions are curriculum, media, peer
influence and lecturers. Political education in higher education is formallytransmitted through the official curriculum, especially in primary andsecondary schools where civics or government is taught as a part of social
studies subject (Boaduo, 2013).
Another major political educator, particularly in the field of voter
education, is the election officials from the national election authority.
Normally, election officials will assign staff to organize and run voter
education and information programs in place of the election authority.
Accordingly, there will be staff appointed with the specific function, forexample, media relations, election official and poll worker training, andhuman relations management. Furthermore, there will be thecommissioners and executive officers who will play a public
communications role. Communications and the development of an
education program will influence the perceptions, attitudes, and161

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knowledge of voters (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, 2012).
Above all, political parties cannot avoid dedicating themselves tothe political education and training of their members in order to deal withmodern mass democracies, including everyday social changes anddevelopments. The parties necessarily equip themselves with consistentknowledge and skills for preparing their representatives and members toface with new challenges and speculate their responsibility within andbeyond the party (KASYP, n.d.).
In brief, political education activities can take place through any
formal institutions such as schools, universities, mass media or membershipin groups and organizations to encourage and foster the citizens toparticipate attentively in political and social realms (KASYP, n.d.). Thisis because political and voter education is a costly activity if it is solely
provided by the election management authority. Usually, the election
management authority will pick ways to introduce regulations, incentives,and information that only they can offer (ACE Electoral Knowledge
Network, 2012).
Political Parties
A “political party” is defined as an organization which is willing topromote the national interest based on their popular preferences orparticular principles in which all members agreed, and contests for thecontrol of the chief policy by making offices of government (Rose, 1976;
Harris, 1979). Nonetheless, it should be noted that the ultimate intentionof a political party is not always to serve for the national interest but
sectional interest by controlling political power after winning the elections(Olaniyi, 2001). This is because democratic political parties compete andseek to win elections in order to take control of government institutions.
They offer a diversity of public policy proposals and options for governancewhich are shaped by citizens’ preferences through their choices ofcandidates and policies. On the other hand, they can toughen national
political institutions when presenting these policies at elections andmobilize citizens in the name of the national interest (National Democratic
Institute, 2008).

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Moreover, political parties are a vital element of representative
democracy. Since democratic political parties compete and pursue theirgoal to win elections in order to administer government institutions. They
propose alternative public policies which are constructed based on citizens’
preferences as well as offer numerous options for governance, for example,
a broad range of alternative candidates and policies. In other words, parties
can ensure that “elections are true expressions of the popular will”(National Democratic Institute, 2008). Moreover, they can strengthen
national political institutions and mobilize citizens toward the vision of
the national interest. More importantly, while political parties can emerge
without democracy, democracy cannot become successful without politicalparties (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, 2012).
In brief, “political education within the political party” is also
specifically defined as the activities organized by a political party with the
purpose of keeping the electorates know about their civic responsibilities
and party programs elaborately in this research (Olaniyi, 2001). Politicalparties also offer a range of non-political benefits as well, for instance,social activities, recognition and status for people and groups, and a senseof security, connectedness, and power (Johnston, 1949). Good politicalparties must have codes of conduct, basic disclosure requirements, financial
audits, autonomous disciplinary committees, training and ethical education
activities, monitoring and evaluation procedures, and term limits for party
leaders to strengthen internal democracy, accountability, and transparency
in their party structures and decision-making processes (Thornton, 2001).
Functions of Political Parties
Based on the study entitled “Political Parties: Functions andOrganization in Democratic Societies” written by Wilhelm Hofmeister
and Karsten Grabow (2011), political parties must embrace a series offunctions in order to engage in the political system successfully and tobring the reinforcement of democracy as described below.
The first function is so-called ‘function of political decision-making’.
Political parties express public expectations and demands or interests ofthe society to the political realm. The second function is ‘function of163

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selection’. Political parties have high potential in recruiting politicalpersonnel and nurturing them to be politicians by selecting and presenting
them as electoral candidates. The third function is the ‘political integration’.
Political parties integrate different ideas or concerns of general public intoa political project, and campaign them in order to check the feedback fromthe majority. The fourth function is called ‘function of socialization andparticipation’. Political parties link the citizens and the political system
together. They also raise public participation in the politics. The fifth
function is ‘function of exercising political power’. Political parties
organize the government by participating in elections in order to occupy
political positions, especially in representative democracies in whichgovernment authorities generally emerge from these parties. The last
function is ‘function of legitimating’. Political parties promote thelegitimacy of the political system by fortifying the political order in the
citizens’ sensibility. The third, fourth, and sixth functions are parts ofpolitical education. Moreover, opposition parties are also specifically
responsible for criticizing the government, controlling it, and harboring
constructive choices. They play the role of an alternative government aswell as the role of a government in waiting simultaneously. These functions
are important for democratic societies because the citizens needrepresentatives to voice their disagreement against the government andsafeguard their interests.
When considering their political programs explicitly, there are twofunctions clearly arisen from them: first, the articulation of public interests,
and second, the orientation and influence of the citizens’ opinions. Apartfrom basic functions of party programs such as identifying the parties andguiding principles and ideas of the parties in order to differentiatethemselves from the others, some political parties have special programs
that define their political visions regarding certain political issues and/or
policies, for example, economic policies or energy policies. These programs
can increase the participation of representatives and citizens who areinterested in those fields, strengthen the relationship between the party
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toward those issues among the members. Another special program is theelectoral program which contains proposals and demands in regard to the
future activities that parties may promote after winning the elections.
Political programs are also designed to prepare political work within theparties as well as political functions in the parliament such as politicalrhetoric, media control, membership promotion, and party financing(Hofmeister and Grabow, 2011). These programs are constituted to politicaleducation.
In another research entitled “The Change of Function of Political
Parties at the Turn of Millennium”, Simon (2003) studies the functions ofpolitical parties which include political education provision. In relation
to political education, there are two main functions of political parties
such as political mobilization and political participation, and representative
function. First, political parties involve people into public life throughpolitical mobilization aiming for the decline in social tensions and theincrease of votes from the group structure they have built up. In otherwords, political parties’ goal is to form and influence the political eventsensuring political democracy and competence within them. Second, there
are two main methods of political participation which are active
participation and passive participation. Active participation is provided
through the concrete party activities, leader election, demonstrations, andpolitical debates while passive participation is a political activity organizedby citizens aiming to influence the decision-making in leader selection
and party activities. The clearest political participation related to party
politics is voting.
According to another research entitled “Political Parties and Political
Issues in Thailand” written by Preecha Hongkrailert (2524), there areseven functions of political parties which are (1) function of politicaleducation, (2) function of selection, (3) function of interparty coordination,(4) function of political integration, (5) function of the opposition, (6)function of centralization, and (7) function of leadership. The functions
are described in detail as follows.
First, one of the main functions of political parties is to provide

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political education. In the democratic system, political parties must provide
political education for the citizens because to govern a country needs
collaboration from every citizen not just a group or a class of citizens.
There are many forms of political education activities such as policy
announcements by political parties in the field of economics, politics,
education, national security, and other social issues, promotion via mass
media (i.e. newspapers, radio, televisions, journal, and publications), directaccess to citizens (i.e. public discussions, speeches, forums), and so on.
Moreover, political parties must provide political knowledge in the
democratic system accurately and rightfully, for example, encourage
political consciousness and political participation by encouraging thecitizens to vote for political parties that promote their preferable policies
instead of voting for an individual as well as to observe the electoral
environment and report whenever the vote fraud is found.
Second, another function is called ‘function of selection’ in which
political parties are responsible for recruiting high potential persons as
members of the House of Representative. In the democratic system, thequalities of the members of the House of Representative are very importantbecause they are the citizens’ representatives who will protect the public
interest as well as other stakeholders in accordance to the intention of thevoters as much as possible. Therefore, members of the House ofRepresentative must dedicate to the public interest and be responsible forthe common wealth. They must have certain capabilities and experiencesin terms of being a good representative of the entire population. As a result,
it is difficult to find such a person who has all of these qualities. Politicalparties are the best filtering agencies who can select the members of theHouse of Representative with full resources. On the election days, citizens
should make their decisions based on the policies of each political party
that benefit them the most instead of considering the candidates individually.
In order to do so, they must trust in political parties who have carefully
and thoroughly selected the members of the House of Representative.
The third function is ‘interparty coordination’. Political parties playa significant role in terms of coordinating other powerful parties and166Silpakorn University
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stakeholders. In general, the pressure groups and benefit groups are theinfluential figures for the government in terms of public policy. For
instance, there are the universal strike by the labor union and demonstrations
by farmers and students in order to make some demands on the governmentor governmental officers. Simultaneously, the employers may not agree
to accept the demands in order to protect their self-interests. Consequently,
political parties coordinate these benefit groups by proposing the laborlaw which is fair for both sides (as well as other groups). If the proposedlabor law is ineffective, there will be the modifications and amendments.
The interest-based coordination between benefit groups can be consideredas the political relaxation.
The fourth function is ‘political integration’. Political parties are
the power hub in terms of politics since they are the center of benefit
groups and citizens who are active in the field of politics, economics, andsocial issues in order to seek for the governmental positions and implement
their policies to govern the country. Political parties, hence, gather the
resources to build the negotiation power, demand, and integrate the ideas
of individuals and groups into the governance. Even though the politicalparties are not elected, they can give some advice and make somesuggestions to the government in order to benefit the public.  
Fifth, political parties also play an important role as opposition
parties. In the democratic system, political parties, whose only few
members are elected and cannot set up a government, must act as the
opposition parties. Opposition parties are important for the democraticsystem because they are the ‘mirror’ for the government by reflecting what
the government lacks or what the government should do to benefit thecitizens who are the owner of the country. Opposition parties will criticize,
oppose, or deter the government from overusing their power or damage
the country and become the ‘dictator of the majority’. Nevertheless, if thegovernment rules the country effectively, the other parties should support
them. In addition, opposition parties are responsible for controlling thegovernment to perform according to the policies they have proposed tothe parliament. In England, the opposition party is praised and respected

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Punchada Sirivunnaboodat the same level as the party who acts as the government, and is called‘Her Majesty’s Opposition Party’ while the party who acts as thegovernment is called ‘His Majesty’s Government’. In other words, theprime minister is ‘the first gentleman’ and the leader of the opposition
party is ‘the second gentleman’. Both sides are ready to shift their positions.
In other words, if the government fails in terms of governance, theopposition party is ready to be the government and the prime ministerbecomes the opposition party’s leader while the opposition party’s leader
becomes the prime minister.
Sixth, another function is to centralize powerful parties and politicalparty members. As political parties are the center of individuals from avariety of occupational groups, there is the high exposure to the conflicts
between ideas. Hence, political parties are act as the ‘stage’ for theirmembers as well as their groups to express their opinions and feelings inorder to make a peaceful agreement before bringing up the issues to discussin the parliament. Therefore, political parties are the center of cooperatingand establishing mutual understanding between their members as well as
between parties and parties, parties and the government, and the government
and the citizens.  
Seventh, political parties are responsible for nurturing politicalleaders. In a democratic country, political parties are the institution who
fosters the political leaders as professional politicians who are capable
and ready to be the political leaders in different levels effectively such as
prime ministers, ministers, Bangkok governors, mayors, councilors, andso on. The other institutions who are not political parties like bureaucratic
agencies should not have as many qualities to nurture political leaders aspolitical parties. This is because the qualities of political leaders aredifferent from the qualities of administrative leaders. In other words,
governmental officers or administrators are law, regulation, and protocol
enforcement officers in which the political sector are the one who set themup while political leaders are the one who implement the policies byprioritizing the public interest from the political party’s point of view.
Thus, politicians must understand how to ‘negotiate’ for political interests

168Silpakorn University
Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Artsof the citizens, coordinate, and build the peace between different groups
by designing the policies cautiously. If they become the government, theymust implement these policies and the governmental officers who are theadministrators must support them. Therefore, in the democratic system,
political parties are the most appropriate training institution for fostering
political leaders.
Political parties are not only competing in elections. One of theirmajor functions is to provide political education to their members as wellas general people. This research, therefore, aims to analyze politicaleducation that those two political parties, Democrat Party and Puea Fah
Din Party, have provided to people since their inception.
Methods
This research is a qualitative study exploring the relevant literaturesand interviews of the participants engaging in political parties’ activities.
As such, the researchers have studied the relevant literatures both inEnglish and in Thai such as books, academic articles, journal articles,
newspapers, and previous studies in order to use the information forcomparative study and as the guideline for additional interviews with theinformants who had engaged in the two parties’ political activities.
    
After studying the relevant literatures, the researchers haveconducted the interviews with personnel and participants engaging in theactivities organized by the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party, forexample, party administrators, politicians, party personnel, party’s branchpersonnel, scholars in the fields of politics and political party system fromdiverse universities, and personnel from non-governmental organizations
related to the research topics, in order to receive correct and accurate
information which is conformed to the primarily studied relevant literatures.  
Research Findings
Objective 1: To compare and contrast the current situation of
the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party on how to provide
political education for their party members, party supporters, and169

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Punchada Sirivunnaboodthe public in general.
The research results on the comparative study of the Democrat
Party and Puea Fah Din Party’s political education programs for party
members, party supporters, and the public:
The results of this research show that the differences in the purposeof party establishment, duration of political activity operation, internal
structure, political ideology of the party, and objectives of the politicaloperation of the two parties led to the differences in the programs ofpolitical education and political activity operations for party members,
party supporters, and the public. The researcher had analyzed theaforementioned points based on the key issues as follows.
1) Party Policies toward the formation of political education
programs: the Democrat Party has not identified clear approaches for theprovision of political education for the public in their Party Regulations,but organized their political activities based on the party policy forelections. Therefore, the provision of political education, for party members
and the public, of the Democrat Party was operated along with otherpolitical activity arrangements, especially the activities that Election
Commissionof Thailand arranged such as party conventions, party general
assemblies,or extraordinary general meetings of party branches. A lot ofparty members or party branch members had to participate in the
aforementioned activities as they were great opportunities to provide
political education to their party members at the same time. The activitiesof the political educational program mostly were speeches on stage
principally concerning major political issues at the moment presenting by
the popular and famous members in the House of Representatives orpoliticians of the party to provide knowledge or share ideas regarding
important political issues. Nonetheless, the Democrat Party still organizedactivities that involved other forms of the provision of political education,
but the party did not arrange those activities along with the aforementioned
annual activities, for example, the Democrat Party assembly emphasizing
the formulation of recommendations for implementing election policiesof the party while informing their members and the public about the170Silpakorn University
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approaches and direction of the party policies. Moreover, the Democrat
Party also had other activities focusing on the young generation so called
the Yong Democrat Program. These activities had been continuously
popularized among young people in many geographic areas in Thailand.
The information of this program will be discussed in the following section.
On the other hand, the Puea Fah Din Party experiences different
political activity arrangements and political education programs for party
members. The party does not organize political activities and education
based on the party policy for elections. Instead, the party has clearly
indicated in the Section 4, Article 23 in their Party Regulations that the
party must provide political education for their members and the publicin general for better understanding among party members and the publicwhich will strengthen constitutional monarchy in the parliament system.
Therefore, the party had defined their six major approaches for thedevelopment of political education for party members and the public asfollows:“(1) Provide the personnel who are expert in each profession
discipline to train party members and the public.
(2) Collect and distribute political, economic and social information
to raise awareness among party member and the public by increasing theirpolitical participation.
(3) Promote and support the gathering of local communities toacquire knowledge about the rights and local resource preservation as well
as foster political ideologies and rights among them.
(4) Promote the integration of profession disciplines for the
regularly exchange and sharing of political ideas and knowledge between
party personnel.
(5) Broadcast political knowledge or political activities via mass
media.
(6) Encourage party members and the public to attend politicaldebates and lectures.”
The regulations described above show the clear vision of the Puea Fah
Din Party that aims to provide political education for the public. Moreover,171

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Punchada Sirivunnaboodthe party had implemented the aforestated approaches for providing
political knowledge to their members and the public. Therefore, allactivities that the party had arranged were embedded with politicalknowledge, but they were not organized alongside with major activities
required by the Election Commission of Thailand unlike the Democrat
Party. Since Puea Fah Din Party was supported by Asoke Communities
in many provinces so they could continuously organize the activities
together with the cooperation of the Asoke Communities in every area.
Furthermore, the majority of Asoke Community members were also PeuaFah Din Party members so that those members always participated in theparty activities on every occasion.
2) The Organization of Activities Providing Education for Young
People In addition to the provision of political education for party members
and the public, both parties also had policies regarding the politicaleducation programs for young people. However, the differences in political
ideologies, party structures, and policies between the Democrat Party andPuea Fah Din Party led to the different approaches and processes of theirpolitical education provision for young people.
In terms of providing political education for young people, theDemocrat Party had organized Young Democrat Program that emphasized
the establishment of political education camps for young people who wereinterested in politics. The activity was often held for 3-5 days dependingon the areas. The project’s operations involved the members of the Houseof Representatives or the party politicians to discuss or give a speech oninteresting political issues for young people participating in the project aswell as organize field trips to important political sites such as the parliament,
government house, courts, and so on.
The Young Democrat Program was not organized only in Bangkok,
but also in other areas of the country where the party branches supported
this program in order to give opportunities to young people in different
areas to learn more about politics and the party. More importantly, thisprogram also allow the young generation participating in the program tomeet the Democrat politicians and famous parliamentarians. This program

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could also be an approach to recruiting new political generation of theparty that would strengthen the party organization in the future.
Puea Fah Din Party’s approaches of the provision of politicaleducation for young people is different from the Democrat Party. Strictly
speaking, the party had provided political education to young generation
since they were little up until they entered their 20 job bases that Asoke
Communities had founded. Puea Fah Din Party provided political education
by deepening the knowledge while working in the job bases of Asoke
Communities in each province. Due to the close bonds between Asoke
Communities and the party, most of the young people in the party lived
in and studied at Asoke schools, so there was no difficulty in fostering
merit-based political education of Asoke Community among the young
people. The schools in Asoke Communities provided political knowledge
to students in the mornings by letting them watching Bunniyom TV andnews from other general channels and listening to Samana Bodhiraksa’steachings in the evenings toward live broadcasts on TVs or at his place.
Therefore, when any political event occurred, young generation in the
Puea Fah Din Party and Asoke Community quickly understood what was
happening and were ready to participate in political activities with otherparty members on every occasion. In some areas, the young people in the
Puea Fah Din Party and Asoke Community helped the party members tocampaign during election periods. This means that most of them understood
the political context of the country better than common young people inother societies in Thailand due to their steady acknowledgement and studyof political issues, unlike other young people who participated in or learned
politics from time to time or when there were political activities with theirfavorite political parties only.
3) Approaches of Political Education Provision for Party
Members and the Public The provisions of political education for party
members and the public offered by the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din
Party were different. The Democrat Party provided political education to
the public and organized political activities as required by the Election
Commission of Thailand and Party Policies at the same time, especially173

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during the election periods. Due to the budget limit, the Democrat Party
organized the activities to provide political education for the public andparty members only when they had general assemblies, party branchmeetings or seminars at provincial level as required by the Political
Activity Regulations of the Election Commission of Thailand. The politicaleducation activities were mostly political speeches or discussions with theparticipants. However, the Democrat Party also organized other activities
such as the Democrat Party assemblies, Blue Night balls, coffeehouseforums, and so on. These activities had different objectives; the Democrat
Party assemblies were arranged to collecting public comments about the
problems in the country and apply the information to implement election
and governance; the Blue Night balls were arranged for funding the party’s
enhancement, election running, and other party activities; coffeehouseforums were the places for party branches in each area to give opportunities
to party members and the public who supported the party to share andexchange their politic ideas (however, the coffeehouse forums were nolonger organized at the moment). The activities that were organized besides
the activities required by the regulations of the Election Commission ofThailand usually received supporting funds from the members of the Houseof Representatives and local politicians. There were also the politicaleducation activities, including the sharing and exchange of political ideas
between the party representatives and the participants.
On the other hand, the political education activities of the Peua Fah
Din Party provided for the public were not organized in the similar way
as in the Democrat Party’s, but they constantly organized the activities toprovide merit-based political education to their party members. Such
activities were embedded with merit-based principles toward Asoke
Community’s job bases. While working in each job base, they had tosacrifice and train themselves to deal with problems that might occur ineach job base, for example, there would some conflicts between members
in some job bases and the leaders of each job base must train themselves
to solve these problems. During their training in each job base, the workers
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compensations or self-interests. For instance, the earnings from their work
must be distributed and shared to the members of Asoke Communities andthe public for free; such practice taught them to genuinely devote
themselves to the public in the same way as politics which is the genuine
public service. Therefore, the training at the job bases based on meritist
approaches could help the party members of the Puea Fah Din Party totruly learn how to dedicate themselves to the public when they work in
the field of politics in the future.
Aside from the job bases, Peua Fah Din Party also provided politicaleducation to the members through the teachings of Samana Photirak andthe party and Asoke Community’s news and media channels in different
areas. Puea Fah Din Party and Asoke Community members must listen to
the teachings of Samana Bodhiraksa in the evenings. Some members may
not reside in the area where Samana Bodhiraksa resided, but they still canwatch Bunniyom TV or listen to the radio to follow up the teachings. Since
Santi Asoke Community and Puea Fah Din Party had the same idea that
religion and politics must go together and cannot be separated, Samana
Bodhiraksa had added political issues, especially about the politicalsituations and the involvement of Asoke Community in the political events,
in his teachings. For example, in 2013, Puea Fah Din Party members had
gathered under the name of “Dharma Army” to protest against the
government as Samana Bodhiraksa and the leaders of the Asoke
Communities all agreed that the government was leading the country to
the political and economic collapse.Therefore, Samana Bodhiraksa andother Buddhist monks were cooperated with the Asoke Community andPuea Fah Din Party members. Samana Bodhiraksa motivated Puea Fah
Din Party and Asoke Community members to participate in political mobwith their merit-based ideology.
4) Political Concepts and Context in terms of Political Education
Provision for the Public.  The Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party
had different concepts of the provision of political education for the public.
Due to the fact that the Democrat Party did not have clear political ideology,
the content of knowledge that the Democrat Party instructed the public

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during the political education activities for the public was mostly related
to the contemporary political situations as well as the party policies usedin election campaigns and political and administrative mistakes in the pastof rival parties. This can be frequently noticed by the speeches of themembers in the House of Representatives and politicians of the Democrat
Party when they were on stage in many areas. Nevertheless, the context
of the Democrat Party’s provision of political education for young people
may be different from the provision of education for their party members
and the public. This was because the party provided the political education
for young people by emphasizing the nurturing of political participationin the private sector and creation of a high-qualified political development
without corruption for the latter generations.
The approaches of Puea Fah Din Party’s political education provision
for the public were different from the Democrat Party. The content ofknowledge that Puea Fah Din Party provided to the public and their party
members mostly emphasized merit-based principles due to the fact that
Puea Fah Din Part was an organization which was established and supported
by Asoke Community and respected Samana Bodhiraksa, one of the leadersof the party. Therefore, they had applied meritism which is the principleof Asoke Community to basic principle of Puea Fah Din Party.
The provision of political education for their party members andthe public, no matter it is the learning from job bases, the party policies
or community media, was always embedded with meritism. Meritism isthe basic idea and practice of the party members which influences thepractice of the party members to be different from other political parties.
In other words, Puea Fa Din Party did not desire the government positions
or a victory during an election, but they aimed to make good deeds throughmeritism in order to gain acknowledgement and trust from the public togovern the country. Puea Fah Din Party members did not fight for a positionin the government, but took a political position when the public invitedthem to work for the country. Hence, in every preceding election, Puea
Fah Din Party only sent the members to run the election just to follow theregulations of the Election Law in which every party must send in their176

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members to run the election. They did not seek for political power toward
the election unlike other parties.
5) The Provision of Political Education and the Sense of
Membership For the Democrat Party, due to the fact that their provisionof political education was principally related to the political direction indifferent periods of time and interested a lot of party members and the
public who supported the party, their presentations of political issues
constantly gained attention from the party supporters. However, suchcontent may not increase the sense of membership among the party
members because after the elections or political events that party member
were interested ended, most of the members and party supporters tended
to stop participating in other party’s activities. This is different from Puea
Fah Din Party; since the party was one of Asoke Community organizations,
so meritism was embedded in the provision of political education for Puea
Fah Din Party members. Moreover, the faith in Asoke Community leaders
and the teachings of Samana Bodhiraksa, which often involved politicalissues, also promoted the sense of membership among the party members.
Therefore, the party members continuously participated in the activitiesof the party, especially when the party protested against the governmentor governmental policies.
6) The Budget for Organizing Political Education Activities forParty Members and the Public The main sources of revenues of the
Democrat party derived from donations and financial support from the
Political Party Development Fund. The aforementioned revenues wereused for organizing political activities of the party. However, the Political
Party Development Fund allocated the budget to political parties toorganize political activities as required by the Political Party Development
Fund Declaration. The political parties had to organize the projects byusing the received budget, write a report, and return the leftover of funds
back to the Fund after the end of the projects. Besides from these twosources of revenues mentioned above, the political activities organized by
the Democrat Party, especially the activities organized in different
provinces, were supported by the members of the House of Representatives

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Punchada Sirivunnaboodor local politicians. Although the party had allocated some budget fororganizing activities to party branches, the budget was not adequate.
Therefore, the members in the House of Representatives must takeresponsibility in financing political education activities.
Most of the political education activities financially supported by
local members of the House of Representatives were the activities that the
party members in the House of Representatives arranged for getting votes
and expanding their stronghold in their local areas alongside with the party.
Sometimes, the activities were organized along with the party branchassemblies in each province in order to save the budget. Except during
the election periods, the political education activities for the public andother political activities in general were organized aside from local party
assemblies.
For Puea Fah Din Party, the budget for organizing political activities
at present mainly relied on the incomes of the party and Asoke Community
due to the fact that Puea Fah Din Party did not receive funds from the
Political Party Development Fund allocated unlike other political parties.
Therefore, the budget for party’s operations and activities primarily derived
from the selling of Bunniyom products and donations. Puea Fah Din Party
members believed that if the party desired to participate in the country’s
governance and truly wanted to help people, the party must train themselves
to survive on their own before starting helping other people; that was why
they no longer accepted the financial support from the Fund as discussed
above. The activities such as political assemblies, Bunniyom TV
broadcasting, establishment of job bases for teaching the members about
meritism, provision of political education for young people of the party,
and each teaching of Samanas for the public, completely depended on therevenues that Asoke Community earned.
It could be seen from the current situations that even though the
Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din party had engaged in politics for
decades, their political activities, including political education activities
for party members, young people, and the public, were greatly different
due to the differences in both parties’ internal structure, policy-making

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concepts, political strongholds, concept of political participation, andapproaches of gaining power to govern the country; these factors affected
the creation of party affiliation of both parties.
Objective 2: To study the effectiveness of political education
programs provided by the two political parties for the public.
The research results illustrate an effectiveness of the politicaleducation programs for party members and party supporters between
the Democrat Party and Pea Fah Din Party as following important
issues:1) The Continuity of Political Education Activities
Due to the fact that the majority of the political parties did not havesufficient budget for organizing political activities and providing politicaleducation for the public, most of the activities providing political education
were occasionally organized, especially during the election periods andalongside with political activities as required by the Political Party Act orthe Election Commission of Thailand Declarations. The political education
activities of the Democrat Party, hence, had some characteristics similar
to other parties’. In other words, they organized political education
activities for the public along with other activities as required by the
Political Party Act or the Election Commission of Thailand Declarations.
Therefore, their political education activities were not regularly andcontinuously organized, and did not truly promote party affiliation orprovide political education to the party members. Other than the activities
organized along with the main activities, the members in House ofRepresentatives or party politicians may occasionally arrange a meetingor political education session for the party members, but they did notorganize this kind of activities annually since they were mainly financedby the members in House of Representatives or party politicians only.
For Puea Fah Din Party, their political education activities for party
members and the public were mostly integrated in the job bases or
Bunniyom TV’s content. Puea Fah Din Party did not have political forum
to provide political information to the public like other political parties,
except during political gatherings when the party tended to assign Samanas

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Punchada Sirivunnaboodor key political figures to give a speech on stage to share their politicalideas to the public.
The provision of political education for party members toward job
bases and Bunniyom media of the Asoke Community was different fromother parties. The party members, who were mostly Asoke Community
members, usually studied and received political information every day.
Therefore, the political concepts promoted by the leaders of the Puea Fah
Din Party and Asoke Community were truly absorbed by the party
members. According to the interviews with 20 Peua Fah Din Party
members, every interviewee had the same direction of political ideas. They
believed in the political decision of Samana Bodhiraksa and meritism inwhich they could lead them to peaceful politics and the politicians would
truly serve the public and the country. Furthermore, they also believedthat religion and politics cannot be separated and good politics must comefrom good religious concept.
2) Generating New Knowledge for Party Members and the
Public who Participated in Political Education Activities
The provision of political education of both two parties’ members
mostly was the provision of additional contemporary political information.
This could be new knowledge or information that the representatives ofthe party shared to the members and the public for making politicalinformation in various issues become more clear and accurate. For example,
the Democrat had organized the forum about the policies that the party
would like to present during the election periods and indicating thedisadvantages of the rival party policies. To clearly show the disadvantagesof the rival parties’ policies, the Democrat Party presented the statistical
data or the quantitative reports provided by the public sector to the forum
attendees to let them consider about these in the future.
Puea Fah Din Party also shared some similar characteristics ofinformation provision with the Democrat Party, but these pieces of
information were not completely new but the additional information aboutmajor political events to direct the ideas of the party members in the sameas the party. In addition, Most of the informed content was related to Asoke

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Community’s meritism; thus, if any party member or party leader would
like to propose any new political concept to Puea Fah Din Party, it must
be based on meritism as well.
3) The Distribution of the Party’s Political Ideologies to Party
Members toward Political Education Activities
During the election periods, the Democrat Party was able to spread theideas and policies to their party members and party supporters effectively;
these people were the important stronghold of the party during the elections.
For Puea Fah Din Party, the main ideology of the party was conformed to
Asoke Community’s meritism, so their all types of political activities suchas political education provision, political fundraisings, and so on, werebased on meritism.
4) The Effectiveness of Different Types of Media Used by the
Party to Promote Political Education among Party Members and the
PublicBoth the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party had their own
media production such as televisions, radios, and publications. Thesesources of media play significant roles in providing political education to
party members and those who were interested in effectively. For the
Democrat Party, there were a variety of TV shows broadcasted via Fah
Wan Mai Channel and Blue Sky Channel which steadily gained a lot of
attention from the party members. Even though the number of viewers
was lower than the number before the coup d’état in 2014, Fah Wan Mai
Channel still included politics in their content, for example, Columnist
Analysis Show, Invisible Hand Show, and common news sessions in theevenings. For the publications, the Democrat Party still issued the monthly
journals called the “Blue Compass” which reported the party’s politicalactivities and politics-related articles written by the party leaders or
politicians. For the radio channels, although they were the most effective
media reaching the public in every region, especially in the remote areas,
after the coup d’état in 2014, the Democrat Party had to stop the broadcasts
via the community radio due to the prohibition of media production bycommunity radio stations. Nonetheless, when they produced the channels

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via the community radio, the Democrat Party did not have their own
community radio station, but most of the community radio stations who
broadcasted political information to promote the party had party members
or party supporters managing them, so the party could present important
information in different areas.        Puea Fah Din Party also had the party’s television channels, radio
stations, and publications. Every type of the party’s sources of media wasvery effective in terms of thoroughly providing political information to
the party members and the public who were interested. This could benoticed by the news following routines that the party members committed
toward the media both inside and outside the country and common
understanding among the audience due to the fact that Bunniyom mediaof Puea Fah Din Party was produced by a job base of Asoke Community
in every province. The producers and learners at the job bases were themembers of Asoke Community and Puea Fah Din Party. By producing
their own show, the other members tended to seriously pay attention to
the shows whether they were on TV or radio. This was different from the
Democrat party’s media by which the producers of their shows were notcompletely composed of party members; their members did not involvein producing shows or learning how to produce shows unlike the membersof Asoke Community. The members of the Democrat Party usuallyfollowed news only when the country had serious political issues, forexample, when the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC)
protested against the government.
In terms of the community radio, Puea Fah Din Party had hosted
some channels via radio, too. The community radio is a part of Bunniyom’s
job bases that the members of Asoke Community and Puea Fah Din Party
managed together. Its programs presented various political issues to theaudience and continuously gained attention from the members. However,after the coup d’état in 2014, Puea Fah Din Party had to cease thecommunity radio’s operations as well.
Objective 3: To examine the role of political education for party
members towards the establishment of party affiliation.

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The research results showed that the provision of politicaleducation offered by the two parties to their current party members
stimulated party affiliation at different levels.
Most of the Democrat Party members believed in the party, but did
not have close bonds with the party when compared with Puea Fah Din
Party because the Democrat Party did not have a clear political ideology.
Most of the political ideologies gaining attention from the party members
and the public usually related to contemporary political issues at that time,or some party policies proposing to the public may attract some groupsof party supporters; these ideologies and policies continuously interested
those who had faith in the party or the Democrat Party’s fan club. This
could be seen from the seminar speeches during the election periods when
the party members from different provinces were invited or the politicaleducation sessions for the party members organized along with theassemblies required by the Political Party Act. The content presented tothe party members and activity participants was mostly related to current
political situations or attacked the policies and weaknesses of the rival
parties. It was rarely composed of the presentations of political concepts
or ideologies formulated by the party from the past to present. Thus, themajority of the Democrat Party members did not understand the true
history of the party as well as the evolution of the party’s political ideology
from the past to present; this affected the party’s political operations andtheir members’ political participation a lot.  
In terms of political education provision, Puea Fah Din Party wasenormously different from the Democrat Party. This was because Puea
Fah Din Party was an organization of Asoke Community and most of the
Puea Fah Din Party members were also Asoke people, so most of the party
members did have the party affiliation toward the party. Moreover, Puea
Fah Din Party’s political education provision was also embedded withmeritism which was applied to the party’s political concepts and ideologies;
therefore, the community members understood the party’s political
ideologies very well. Asoke people comprehended meritism very wellsince their way of living was based on the ideology, the current members

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Punchada Sirivunnaboodof the party believed in the party and understood the party’s history andideology. The sense of membership encouraged the party members towillingly engage in the party’s political activities, especially when there
were political gatherings or protests against the government’s policies orlaws that the party considered as dangers for the Thai society. These factors
showed the strength of this small political party when compared it to othernewborn political parties or small political parties in Thailand.
The research results showed that the provision of politicaleducation to new party members, particularly the young people, ofboth parties stimulated party affiliation at the same level.
Both the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party had the idea ofproviding political knowledge to the youth, but their approaches weredifferent. A reason for this was that the Democrat Party organized thepolitical education activities for youth in the form of Young Democrat
Group only from time to time by emphasizing the relationship between
young people and the party, party’s politicians, and party’s personnel.
Therefore, young people who participated in the project often had a chance
to exchange their knowledge with the real practitioners and get hands inthe real political operations. Sometimes, after the end of the project, someof the young people also continued working as the assistants of themembers in the House of Representatives under the Democrat Party. This
was the foundation of the party’s next generations.
In terms of Puea Fah Din Party,political education was provided
regularly as a part of schooling for students in Asoke Community schools.
They learned about the party’s political ideology toward the job bases andBoonniyom media. Nonetheless, such knowledge may not emphasize theactual political situations but the merit-based political concepts. The youth
did not have a chance to genuinely engage in political operations, so it
was difficult for them to understand the real political activities. Moreover,Puea Fah Din Party did not have any member in the House of Representatives
under its name, so they did not have personnel to exchange political ideas
with the young people who were interested in politics. Therefore, if the
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expert to share and exchange political knowledge with them, when theseyoung people graduated, they would no longer have interests in politics
or the party’s political role. This would be difficult for the party to create
new generations to continue the party’s operations and obstruct thedevelopment of Puea Fah Din Party in the future.  
Objective 4: To explore the relationship between politicaleducation provided by the party and how that political education
stimulate party members, party supporters, and people in general toparticipate in politics.
The research results showed that the parties’ provision ofpolitical education for the party members and party supporters
increased the target groups’ interests in politics and escalated theirpolitical participation.
According to the research results, political education provision of
the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party increased the party members
and supporters’ participation in politics, especially the key political issues
that the parties gave importance to. This could be noticed from the politicalparticipation of Puea Fah Din Party members when they were protesting
against the numerous governments’ policies or the unjust governments intheir perspective. During each protest, Puea Fah Din Party members fromall over the country were willing to participate in the political situationsin unity. To illustrate, in 2011, Puea Fah Din Party members and spiritual
relatives of Asoke Communities from every area came to protest against
the government in the name of “Dharma Army”. Most of the protesters
decided to join in the demonstration after receiving news and informationfrom Bunniyom TV and the teachings of Samana Bodhiraksa about thecurrent political situations; there were hence a lot of the protestors.
Similarly, the Democrat Party also provided political knowledge
and news to the party members and supporters to increase their politicalparticipation. During the political conflict in 2013, the government had
tried to introduce the Amnesty Bill to the People’s Committee to change
Thailand’s system into true constitutional monarchy. The People’s
Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a185

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former member of the House of Representatives under the name of the
Democrat Party, had gathered to protest against the government. The
Democrat Party became a part of the protest since a lot of their membersin the House of Representatives joined in the protest. This influenced theparty members and supporters to engage in the protest. In addition, theparty also broadcasted political issues via the party’s media. According to
the survey, there was the higher rating of Blue Sky Channel during theprotest compared to many public channels. This showed that the Democrat
Party’s political education provision supported the party members andsupporters’ political participation in the same way as Puea Fah Din Party.
The research results on the question of “did political parties’
political education provision increase the voting base of the parties?”
are shown below.
According to the study, the provision of political education for party
members and supporters may have influenced them to participate in politics
alongside with the party, but it did not motivate them to vote for the parties
during the election periods, especially in the areas where the partied did
not have strongholds. For example, during the 2011 election, the numberof voters who voted for the parties in many provinces was lower than thenumber of both parties’ members. Table 1 demonstrates the comparative
data between the number of party members and number of votes the
Democrat Party gained in North-eastern region. This shows that eventhough the party had organized political education activities, they did not
significantly increase the votes for the party.   

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Table 1 The Comparison between the Number of the Democrat Party
Members and the Number of Votes in the Party-list System during the2011 Election
Provinces

Number of Party
Members

Election Results in
the Party-list System

Kalasin
Khon Kaen
Nakhon Phanom
Maha Sarakham
MukdahanRoi EtNong Khai
Nong Bua Lam Phu
Amnat Charoen

153,720
137,52133,381
150,771
61,942
159,040
45,5699,930
80,25068,699112,922
18,02753,373
12,65756,65523,921
20,56175,469Source: The Election Commission of Thailand (2012)

For Puea Fah Din Party, even though there were 16,467 party
members, the 2011 election results in the Party-list system showed thatthey received only 12,823 votes. This shows that the party’s merit-based
political education provision was accepted by the party members, but it
did not increase the stronghold of the party during the election periods.
Conclusion
Due to the fact that the Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party had
differences in the establishment’s objectives, party’s structure, politicalconcepts and ideologies, political participation’s objectives, and the origins
of party members. Therefore, their direction of political education provision
was different in many aspects such as the characteristics of politicaleducation activities organized by the parties and presented to the party
members and the public, the patterns of communication with the public
to provide political knowledge and the party’s information, and the sourcesof revenues used for organizing political education activities. This resulted
in the differences in the effectiveness of political education activities of
the two parties. Since the Democrat Party did not a permanent stronghold,unlike Puea Fah Din Party who had Asoke Communities as their stronghold,187

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the Democrat Party’s political education provision must be interestingenough to attract the party members and the public to listen and participate
in their party activities. In contrast, Puea Fah Din Party had the strongholdcomposed of Asoke Communities, party members, party executives who
were also the members of Asoke Communities and believed in meritism,and Samana Bodhiraksa who was the leader of the communities. So, themerit-based political education provision obviously attracted the attentionof the party members and increased the political participation among themeffectively.   
Recommendations
According to the study of the political education provision for the
Democrat Party and Puea Fah Din Party for their party members, the twoparties’ direction and patterns of political education provision weredifferent. Since Puea Fah Din Party had a stronghold composed of Asoke
Community members and adopted the Asoke Community’s principle toapply with the party’s political ideology, there was the close bond between
the party members who believed in meritism of Asoke Community andthe party. The merit-based political education provision of Puea Fah Din
Party was continuously accepted and supported by their party members.
The provision of political education of the Democrat Party wasdifferent from Puea Fah Din Party because the party did not have acommunity-based stronghold unlike Puea Fah Din Party. Moreover, theeducational content of the Democrat Party was mainly based on the major
political issues in each period of time or the political policies that the party
proposed during the election periods, not a clear political ideology. So,even though the political education activities may have interested the party
members and supporters, they did not increase party affiliation in the same
way as Puea Fah Din Party.
According to the study, the researchers had summarized therecommendations for developing political education provision of Thai
political parties, particularly Puea Fah Din Party and the Democrat Party,
as well as the Election Commission of Thailand as follows.

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Recommendations for Political Parties
1) Political parties should organize regular political education
activities. The content of knowledge provided for the public must stimulate
party affiliation, not only involves the political issues that could interest
the public once in a while. If political parties can formulate the mainprinciples of the party which is the foundation of its political ideology anddevelop it as the party’s political ideology, it is possible to apply suchprinciples to the development of political education content and approaches.
This could also promote political participation among the party members
and genuinely unify them with the party. Simultaneously, the parties canalso increase the number of their stronghold and members by recruiting
those who have similar political ideologies to the party.
2) Political education provision for youth is also highly important
for the development of political parties as well as the development of Thai
politics in general. Currently, very few Thai kids are interested in the
country’s politics, so political parties should encourage and provided
political knowledge to the young people, especially those who are interested
in their party activities.
In terms of providing political education to the youth, politicalparties should collect new knowledge for young people and should notemphasize the content attacking the rival parties but creative content. This
will encourage the new generations to enter the field of politics and develop
the politics in practical way. For instance, political parties may teach them
about the developed countries’ governance systems to help them learn
from good examples and apply their knowledge in the future.
3) Political education provision for youth should not be limited tomemorizing textbooks or listening to guest speakers or key political figures
only, but rather involve the kids to participate in political education
activities of the parties and genuinely train in the field of politics, forexample, assist the members of the House of Representatives, support theelection campaigns, visit important political sites to observe the realpolitical operational processes, and so on. These practices could help the
young people to decide whether they would like to work in the field of189

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politics or not.
4) Political parties’ fundraisings for self-funding political activities
are very important. Political parties should not only reply on the supporting
funds from the Political Party Development Fund or the party’s politicians.
As mentioned before, the supporting funds from the Political Party
Development Fund may be not sufficient for organizing political activities
regularly. If political parties do not have adequate budget to organize suchactivities, they may have to depend on the supporting funds from theparty’s politicians; this may affect the objectives of political education
provision for the party members and the public because they may beintervened by the investors. Therefore, political parties should generate
revenues to organize political education activities by themselves, forexample, sell the party’s products, organize different kinds of parties toraise funds, organize donation sessions, and so on. The genuine politicaleducation provision offered by political parties can truly enhance thepolitical knowledge of the citizens in accordance with the parties’
principles.     Recommendations for the Election Commission of Thailand
1) The Election Commission of Thailand is a key agency playing asignificant role in developing political parties. Hence, in order to develop
political parties, especially small political parties, and reform politicalparties, the Election Commission of Thailand should organize workshops
to provide education to political parties in terms of political education
provision for the public, in order to give opportunities to the newborn
political parties to develop themselves and gain genuine party members
who have the same vision as the parties.  
2) Due to the fact that the budget given by the Election Commissionof Thailand to support political parties may be insufficient for organizing
political education activities for the public and most of the budget tends
to be used for administrating the party branches or organizing party
meetings as required by the Election Commission of Thailand, the Election
Commission of Thailand should organize workshops to educate thepolitical parties about revenues-generating activities for self-funding and190

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becoming independent from the political parties’ supporting funds fromthe Political Party Development Fund. Presently, political parties (small
political parties in particular) often propose the projects to request for thebudget from the Political Party Development Fund by focusing on theseminars between party members rather than fundraisings. The Election
Commission of Thailand should organize workshops to educate the parties
to form such activities in order to be able to fund themselves in the future.
3) The Election Commission of Thailand should organize workshops
for party branches and party members to propose projects to organize
political activities in which the party members and party branch members
can accurately write a project proposal in order to request for the budget
from their party in the future. At present, the Election Commission ofThailand has regularly organized educational activities for party branches
and party members, but most of the content of knowledge is related togeneral political issues such as the patterns of election and the developmentof political parties. However, the activities organized for the party branches
still lack the knowledge about management and operations required byinternal organization laws. Thus, in order to strengthen the performanceof party branches, increase the effectiveness of the political activities, andgain sufficient supporting funds, the Election Commission of Thailand
should organize workshops to educate party branches in the aforementioned
areas.
Acknowledgement
I owe a great deal of gratitude to Friedrich Naumann Foundation,
Thailand for funding this research. I do want to specifically express
gratitude to the following individual: I wish to extend my gratitude to Mr.
Siegfried Herzog, Regional Director for Southeast and East Asia; Ms.
Katrin Bannach, Project Director, Thailand and Dr. Pimrapaat
Dusadeeisariyakul, Programme Manager, Thailand for supporting me to
conduct this study
During my field research from August-November 2015, a great
many people helped me. At the Democrat Party, I would like to thank Mr.

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Punchada Sirivunnabood

Somchai Jitramart, Mrs. Jatuporn Keysonsit, and staffs in the Democrat
Party office in Bangkok and localities for always providing me information,
a comfortable space to work in the office, friendship and, of course, great
ice-coffee every time. At the Phue Fah Din Party, I would like to thank
Samana Bodhirak, Samana Saendin, and other Samanas at Asoke
Communities as well as all party and branch executive committees. I am
extremely indebted to the interviewees (whose names are listed in thisresearch) and their staff at the headquarters office as well as at local
branches. At the Election Commission of Thailand, I thank Mr.Kittipon
Phaayakdechapan, the Director of Political Party Development Fund
Section, and their staffs both at the ECT headquarters and local offices.

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Silpakorn University
Journal of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts

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