Chavalit Yongchaiyudh NAP — Baht-float crisis-triggering government (1996-1997)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

NAP-led coalition inheriting the last phase of the pre-crisis Thai-boom bubble — Chavalit, a former army Commander-in-Chief, took office in November 1996 as the boom was already inflecting downward. Economic school: statist-developmentalist with weak doctrinal coherence — coalition-government instability left macro policy to BoT and Finance Ministry, which defended the Baht peg to a USD-dominated basket past the point of reserve exhaustion. Centre-right on military-defence, populist on agricultural support, status-quo on the Baht-peg architecture until forced off. Key policy content: (i) defence of the managed-Baht peg January-July 1997 — BoT spent ~$23bn reserves, swap agreements committing further; (ii) Finance One collapse June 1997 — first major finance-company failure, triggering confidence cascade; (iii) BoT Governor Rerngchai Marakanond forced resignation 28 July 1997 (eventually personally liable civil judgment 2003); (iv) Baht float 2 July 1997 — the decision that formally began the Asian financial crisis; Baht fell from ~25/USD to 56/USD by January 1998; (v) 58 finance companies suspended June-August 1997; (vi) IMF Stand-By Arrangement 20 August 1997 — $17.2bn package (Thailand-first, before Indonesia and Korea); (vii) 16th Constitution ("People's Constitution") promulgated 11 October 1997 under Chavalit — reformist charter introducing National Human Rights Commission, Constitutional Court, Anti-Corruption Commission, proportional- representation party-list element; (viii) Chavalit resigned 9 November 1997 after coalition collapse. Popularity: November 1996 election NAP 125/393 seats (largest single party), fell to single-digit approval by August 1997 Baht-crisis depth. Coherence line: failed Baht-peg defence into IMF bailout, with 1997 constitutional promulgation as the one durable legacy.