| Summary/Abstract |
Thailand has had mandatory military service since 1905 and since 1954 via a lottery system. Beatings and deaths frequently occur among draftees, and photographs and videos in which draftees are injured, tortured, and humiliated are widespread. This article describes for the first time the development and nature of the Thai military draft. The authors analyse the military draft from a nonkilling global political science perspective and present a nonkilling rationale for ending the draft. The article argues that retaining the military draft promotes a killing society and violates human rights, including the right to conscientious objection; causes mental anguish; is inefficient economically; causes corruption; and supports military interventionism. The authors further maintain that physical abuse that has accompanied the Thai version of military conscription constitutes a pro-killing manifestation of the military regime’s approach to maintaining the existing institutional alignment and control in Glenn Paige’s ‘funnel of killing’. Instead, we recommend converting the draft to a national service program with civilian alternatives, together with conscientious objection as a right.
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