VALUES AND POLITICAL STRUCTURES: DETERMINANTS OF CORRUPTION PROMOTION OR PREVENTION

Abstract

Corruption has long been a deeply rooted problem in Thai society, affecting the administration of the country and the budget used for national development being misappropriated. One of the main causes is the lack of morality and ethics of civil servants, both permanent and political, who do not prioritize public interest. People still rely on the patronage system and cronyism and promote values that favor self-interest and bias, leading to social injustice, conflicts of interest, and policy corruption. Moreover, almost every coup in Thailand has been an excuse for corruption by the previous government. The Organic Act on the Prevention and Suppression of Corruption B.E. 2542 (amended in B.E. 2550, No. 2 B.E. 2554, and No. 3 B.E. 2558) was enacted. Therefore, if we want to solve the problem of corruption in a tangible way, we need to study whether the structure of the government that comes from an election or a coup has an effect on corruption or not. We also need to study the values that play a role in promoting corrupt behavior in order to use them in the campaign to create good values and sustainably resist corruption. The research results found that the corruption perception index of elected and coup-era governments is not significantly different. However, the values embedded in Thailand's patronage system have a significant influence on corruption. Therefore, long-term solutions must focus on changing the values of Thai society to not promote the patronage system but to encourage adherence to goodness, correctness, and ethics, which will lead to the creation of virtuous citizens who can tangibly prevent corruption in the future.