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20 การประชุมวิชาการ
สถาบันพระปกเกล้า ครั้งที่ 24
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Group Discussion 3: Democracy and Societal Security

Societal security has been mentioned recently. Covid-19 has proven
the limitations of trying to maintain state security purely by conventional military
means. Preserving people’s wellbeing and maintaining rights, freedoms, and equality
of all people in society are all important aspects of a democratic society. Rights,
freedom, and human dignity must be respected and protected, and society should
reject inequality and ensure that no one is left behind.

Societal security is an important issue covering both human security
and society as a whole, aiming to ensure the right to freedom, establish
mechanisms to eliminate conditions that pose a threat to human dignity, as well as
promote the strength of the rule of law in society. But in the past, there have been
many cases that reflect the weakness of social stability, whether it is human
trafficking, the red market organ trade, smuggling, illegal labor problems, migrant
workers problems, and illegal businesses including gambling and drugs.

These sorts of problems are increasing in complexity, frequency, and
violence. . They are characteristic of organized crime that operates systematically.
In addition, there are problems that come with changes in social structures, such as
the expansion of the aging society, the shrinking of the birth rate, and the
workforce age population. These are leading to challenges to the state’s expanding
public health system and health insurance. Meanwhile, state revenues are failing to
keep pace with increasing expenditure demands, which will affect the state’s
development in the future. These problems demonstrate the fragility of society and
lead to insecurity, which is eroding state security from the inside.

The above problems reflect the undemocratic practices that are
hidden in many social structures, such as social inequality, discrimination, corruption,
and absence of the rule of law. Group Discussion 3 aims to review and discuss the
social stability situation in Thailand and abroad, considering causes of the problems,
network processes, and results in order to cooperate to find challenges and policies
that are appropriate to promote Thai social stability. The group aims to obtain
feedback that leads to the creation of a society of opportunity, competence,
fairness, and peace.

Topics

1. The status of societal security and its challenges

2. The relationship between the process of democratic development
and societal security