Non-Traditional Security, International Police Cooperation and the Royal Thai Police

Abstract

In recent years, the Royal Thai Police (RTP) has appeared to be more comfortable cooperating with China than with the United States. This phenomenon is evident in several non-traditional security (NTS) incidents involving the RTP’s cooperation, such as the 2011 Mekong 10.5 case, the 2012 terrorist attacks and the recent 2015 Erawan Shrine explosion in Bangkok. These incidents involved police cooperation against drug trafficking, terrorism and other serious crimes. Previous studies explain the RTP approach to cooperation in Thailand by examining driving factors such as great power influences, foreign relations and the RTP’s incompetence in police cooperation. However, no study has addressed the way Thailand and the RTP address NTS challenges and cooperate with foreign counterparts in meeting such challenges. This thesis explains the implications of the NTS agenda for the RTP’s approach to international police cooperation, and where it is inconsistent with the approaches of foreign counterparts. This research asks the question, “How does Thailand’s NTS agenda affect the RTP’s cooperation with foreign counterparts?”, which helps us to understand why the RTP had such inconsistent cooperative behaviour with foreign counterparts, particularly on NTS matters. The NTS agenda framework explains the RTP’s approach to cooperation. This study employs a wide range of primary and secondary sources to explain the existence and implementation of NTS governance arrangements. When studying how NTS challenges are managed in Thailand, this study argues that Thailand’s NTS agenda significantly influences the RTP’s approach to cooperation, generating a lack of consistency—either through eagerness or hesitation—in the RTP’s approach to cooperative behaviour. This inconsistency is a convenient response that happens to suit Thailand’s domestic preferences. The term “NTS” is increasingly used as a part of the political discourse, but gradually it has become a part of the security agenda, accepted by the international community. This security agenda influences Thailand and the RTP to manage both domestic and international security challenges, particularly, in light of the new security environment that emerged after the end of the Cold War era. Show more