Thailand has witnessed 20 constitutions since 1932. The most recent, the 20th, came into effect last year, after an interim constitution, the 19th, which emerged as a result of a coup d'etat in 2014.
A recurrent intricacy in Thai constitutional history is that most constitutions have been overturned by coups d'etat. It is thus not surprising (but still disquieting) that this pinnacle of the national legal framework is much to do about power-sharing and constraints imposed on those who ruled before, alias "instrument d'etat", rather than a "social contract" guaranteeing rights and responsibilities between those in power and the rest of the population anchored on democratic participation.
A salient challenge is that the new Constitution is still being tested by an overriding provision of the 19th constitution, Section 44, which enables Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to issue orders to adjust laws and policies as a fast track measure, bypassing legislative scrutiny and tantamount to a "fiat". The shadow of this provision looms today, even though in principle the 19th constitution and its Section 44 should be superseded by the current constitution.
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