Something of a hopeful trajectory was implied in The Economist's report on the Friday coup of 1932. As Latin American countries replaced one junta with another, and as fascists moved Japan towards tyranny, our correspondent wrote: "The Siamese revolutionaries are moving in the opposite direction-from absolute monarchy towards self-government." Seizing power with no loss of life, a group of Westernised military officers had arrested the heir to the throne and the chief of police. The king had little choice but to accept the fait accompli: power was henceforth to devolve from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary constitution. The feudal era was over.
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