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Alternative Development Concepts and Their Political Embedding: The Case of Sufficiency Economy in Thailand
Abstract
Sufficiency Economy is a local Thai alternative development paradigm, which has been enshrined in the Thai constitutions since 2006 and plays a central role in Thai political discourse since the Asian Crisis in 1997. However, the conflict between different visions of development was drawn into an intra-elite struggle, in the course of which formerly emancipatory development alternatives were co-opted into a highly authoritarian project. Today, it serves as one of the ideological foundations of the military regime, which came to power in a coup d’état in 2014. The character of this regime, however, goes beyond what Ziai (2004) calls ‘enlightened authoritarianism’. It is reminiscent of fascist regimes in Europe in the 1930s. Rather than treating the concept of Sufficiency Economy as such as an authoritarian or suppressive concept, it will be argued that the authoritarian character is a result of a three-step process of politicisation which has unfolded during the last two decades.
... The crisis provided the perfect context for the government to evaluate their development strategy and renew interest in sustainable village development. This led to a response framed under the umbrella term of "sufficiency economy", which articulated some of the Thai "New Theory" concepts that centered family and village development as vehicles for national development, where the countryside could become a "safe-haven" in times of crises (Schaffar, 2018). As such, family and community production was promoted, so that villages would not be completely reliant on the global economy. ...
... Pursuing traditional knowledge became a priority in village education work (in line with broader cultural discourses valuing traditional village knowledge-see Noble, 2019; Schaffar, 2018), in part through children's investigation of traditional music, massage, local herbs, and local herbal remedies (2543/2000-2544/2001). In particular, documenting local herbs (on the computer) led the youth toward formal learning of Lanna, the indigenous language of northern Thailand and the language in which family herbal remedies were stored. ...
... Thus after six years of work on debt and financial management (with parallel efforts in education and computers), the village sought to study their environment as a source of income. As their learner interests shifted to their natural surroundings-topics which were strongly present in contemporary Thai "New Theory" discourses (Schaffar, 2018)-villagers periodically worked with other organizations for support. But the onus of the work was on the village. ...
What does it mean to become a village that learns? In this paper we document the transformative learning journey of a small Thai village over 24 years, becoming a community that identified, tackled, and iterated on problems, altering their everyday practices and lives. In that process the village shifted from a subsistence agricultural community staggeringly in debt to one known for its sustainable environmental, agricultural, and financial initiatives. To understand the village’s learning journey, we consider the village itself as the primary unit of analysis, applying an iterative case study approach, with chronological sequencing, thematic, and biographical narrative analysis across 37 hours of interviews and over 350 pages of scanned project documentation (mostly from village records and writings) collected across four visits. Throughout the paper we elaborate on the role of learner interest and agency, the necessity of infrastructural (often policy) changes, the prioritized role of children in leadership, and the method of “Thai Constructionism” that the village iteratively applied to support their learning. In the discussion we argue that to understand the village’s learning journey, we must study it across multiple scales of time, multiple series of village-initiated formative intraventions across domains, and within larger ecological systems.
... Being influenced by the western, so-called global, idea of neoliberalism which believes free market can resolve all social problems, both politically and economically (Schaffar, 2018), Thailand, however, had tried to use and still adapting an alternative development scheme adjusted to suit with the country's social context. ...
... Even though this royal development project had been applied successfully to the majority group of Thai populationagriculturists living in regional areas, in the nation picture, this concept has not been highlighted by the government but instead the development of urbanisation and the growth of the nation's GDP (Yamaguchi, 2017). in political view, many critics claimed that the concept of Sufficiency Economy in today's Thailand has been re-interpreted by many Thai governments and manipulatively used as ideological foundation to further support elitism or authoritarianism culture of Thailand and that the middle class is still the privilege in welfare of all factors as they are the group who helps escalate the nation's development (Parnwell, 2005;Schaffar, 2018). ...
In today's neo-liberalist world, consumerist society is everywhere and being continuously stimulated in every way to power its fullest potential. Among people within the high potential consumption society, especially luxury customers, there has been an emerging of alternative consumption practices where customers seek for new desires reflected under the notion of post-consumerism, in which refers to the shift of customers' focus on materialistic success to the seeks for pleasures from unmaterialistic well-beings. In Thai luxury customer society, consumption of symbolic value through brands has been the main factor that encourages consumerism in which is not only one of the main causes for environmental problems but also the cause of severe social issues. This has led to the establishment of this research objective to study the insights of post-consumerist characteristics among Thai luxury customer through luxury brands under the research question: how have current alternative consumption activities in Thailand shown a manifestation of a transition of luxury consumer behaviour toward post-consumerism? Four luxury brands were selected to participate in two sets of procedure of data collection: In-depth interview data and advertorial content analysis. A critical discourse analysis of the result was conducted and has provided implications of the manifestation of post-consumerist characteristics among the representative brands which can be categorised into four aspects; Seeking for authenticity from the rural way of life, encouraging community activities, daydreaming for an escape from working life, and attempting to become 'socially concerned' The implications from this research can be contributed for further studies on the idea of post-consumerism and consumer behaviours within Thailand context and emerging economies perspective. Also, it is hoped that practical applications and adaptations of the knowledge found from this research will be able to help promote the more sustainable modes of luxury consumption in the near future.
... Owing to its efficacy in yielding positive outcomes, the SEP has been enshrined in Thailand's constitutions from 2006 onwards. 10 Besides economic outcomes, evidence of psychological benefit related to SEP has also been reported. In 2011, Jatchavala and Pitanupong surveyed lifestyle adaptations and attitudes toward H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej's SEP in a district of Songkhla Province, a nearby province to the restive areas of the South. ...
This cross-sectional survey assessed the association between post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and perceived self-sufficiency, reflecting the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP), conceived by H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX). It was conducted among university students on one campus located within the area affected by the Southern Thailand insurgency and another campus located in a nearby province outside of the restive area. All self-administered questionnaires consisted of questions related to personal information, the Thai version of the PTSD checklist, and a questionnaire aimed at measuring the perceived self-sufficiency according to H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s SEP. The study found that most university students in the restive area affected by the Southern Thailand insurgency perceived to live sufficiently according to H.M. King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s SEP. The rate of perceived self-sufficiency was also higher than reported by the students from the other campus in a nearby province. Moreover, self-sufficiency exhibited a significant inverse association with PTSD symptoms.
... Studies have proven that during the years some of the initiatives carried out from these counter-movements have achieved important results. Among them, there are, for examples, communities following Buddhist economy principles, and practicing local currencies and non-monetary exchanges 39 . The 1997 Asian financial crisis exacerbated this polarisation, and opened a space for rethinking policy regimes also in consideration of the social and environmental functions of agriculture 40 . ...
... This concept had emerged in the 1990s and was designed to encourage small-scale farmers to avoid intensive monocropping. Small-scale farmers were encouraged to grow a variety of crops, to use limited amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and to produce food for home consumption (Kasem & Thapa, 2012;Schaffar, 2018). The program to promote self-sufficiency supported farmers who had already started diversifying and who had a pond. ...
Rice farming systems in the irrigated areas of central Thailand, unlike other parts of the country, have undergone limited changes over the past two decades. These systems are based on two rice crops per year. Generally, they are characterized by the intensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Most of these rice farming systems provide full-time employment to farmers. However, the sustainability of these rice farming systems has been undermined by two factors: the decision to end policies to support rice prices on the domestic market and the aging farming population. The study analyzes the experience of farmers located in Prachinburi Province, who began changing their farming systems in order to move away from conventional rice production. Thirty-eight of these farmers were interviewed, about their objectives, the process of change, and the impacts of these changes. One group of farmers started growing non-rice crops and another group began to produce organic rice collectively. Profitability has increased, but many farmers see also these changes as an opportunity to increase home consumption. In addition, the changes have made the farming systems more flexible. These developments help rice farmers in central Thailand build their capacities for change to be able to adapt to ongoing evolutions of the agricultural sector. However, upscaling these changes in farming systems and in farmers' capacities will require wide-ranging support.
... Most students we interviewed underlined a goal of developing integrated farming, that is, the joint production of crops and animals and the reuse of the residues of one agricultural production as nutrients for another one. This type of farming is being promoted by agricultural education institutions, linked with the self-sufficiency economy concept, which is a cornerstone of policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives for smallscale farms in Thailand (Schaffar, 2018). This type of farming was a clear departure from their parents' farm, which generally focused on a limited number of crops or animals. ...
In past decades, young people in newly industrialized Asian countries have become progressively less involved in farming. In Thailand, providing support to young people to start farming is one possible way to ensure that some farms will continue to innovate and play an active economic role in the future. This study investigated if and how Thai agriculture students plan to become farmers. We interviewed a total of 187 agriculture students taking vocational courses or working towards a university degree focused on training future farmers. Among these students, 61% planned to become full-time farmers at some point in the future and 32% planned to farm part-time as a secondary income-generating activity. Most of the students aimed to set up farms that were diversified, knowledge-intensive and capital-intensive. Therefore, although many students came from a farming family and would be able to access some of their parents’ land in the future, most considered that they did not have yet the necessary resources, such as capital and farming skills, to become farmers. Consequently, many students planned to spend time, often up to 10 years and sometimes more, acquiring these resources before starting a farm. Public policies could provide support to shorten this period if graduates in agriculture are to be among young people who engage in farming.
... The logic of leaving behind an undesirable past is central to Laos' national trajectory which focuses on 'graduating' from 'least developed country,' status via large-scale infrastructure, principally hydropower [19]. So too, Thailand's 'sufficiency economy,' sought to leave behind the excesses that precipitated the 1997 Asian financial crisis, arguing for national development rooted in notions of moderation, community, sustainability, and resilience something it has seemingly failed to do [20]. Cambodia's development rhetoric is akin to Laos -the country's 'Rectangular Strategy' also aims to lift the country out of least developed country status to upper middle-income. ...
Hydropower development in the Mekong River Basin is occurring at a rapid, though controversial pace, pitting a variety of stakeholder groups against each other at both intranational scale and international scale, and affecting state relations across scales. In this paper, we explore the narratives surrounding hydropower development in this basin, while referring to the concept of hydrosocial cycles as the central tool in our analysis. These look at the processes of socio-political construction of nature, viewing water as a medium that conveys power, and thus sources of both collaboration and conflict. While the Mekong hydropower narratives do, indeed, attempt to conflate the massive regulation of hydrological systems with large-scale social and economic ambitions, they are also intended to obscure a widespread and systemic effort to control and alienate the region's waters via engineering at multiple scales.
In response to the deleterious effects of growth-oriented and market-based models promoted by international agencies and national governments, people everywhere are coming up with alternative forms of social organization with a focus on human survival drawing on a variety of sources such as culture, religion, and the indigenous world views. The solidarity economy, which exists in various forms in almost all countries, is trying to cope with crises with greater resilience than the established economies. This was witnessed during the financial crisis of 2008. This chapter will briefly discuss the solidarity economy, its various facets, and how it is bringing a silent revolution in several locales around the world. These changes are based on principles of solidarity, reciprocity, caring, sharing, participatory democracy, harmony with nature, judicious use of the commons, fair trade, and compassion, among others. There is a normative and empirical side to the solidarity economy as an agent of social change. The chapter will begin with a description of the key features of solidarity economy and selected locations in Asia and Latin America where its operation has enabled the local population to address basic needs satisfaction in a participatory manner and weather crises common in capitalism. It will then seek to identify the type of alternative social changes that the solidarity economy seeks to accomplish and the factors responsible for creating the necessary enabling conditions for its flourishing in the form of constitutional provisions, legislation, and recognition of the plurality of economies within the same state. The next section will discuss questions related to social change in the direction of solidarity economy driven from above and change owned and driven from below and explore the possibilities of bridging these two levels. Finally, an attempt will be made to analyze ideas related to solidarity economy in the context of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This is the extended (unpublished) version of "Thailand's ideological struggle: Towards the possibility of depolarization". It received funding from the Faculty of Political Science at Thammasat University (Direk Jayanama Research Center).
This article discusses three forms of agrarian populism in Thailand: the “grassroots populism” of the Assembly of the Poor, the “reactionary populism” of the yellow shirts, and the “capitalist populism” of the red shirts. We examine how these three strands of populism are embedded within dynamics of agrarian change in Thailand and how the intellectual and activist orientation towards agrarian populism led to the neglect of labour, particularly agricultural migrant workers. We show how key ideological underpinnings of the Assembly's grassroots populism (Brass's “agrarian myth”) could be appropriated for the agrarian component of both reactionary and capitalist populism. Rather than a new populism, we argue that a broad and popular challenge to right‐wing authoritarianism should develop inclusive class politics that embrace the rural–urban linkages that already define the social fabric of the new, rural, and agrarian precarious working class.
It is generally assumed that stable democracies depend on sufficient economic freedoms that support ideas of individual independence and that shift resources from state to society. The growth and consolidation of economic freedoms under capitalism has been empirically linked to the growth and consolidation of democracy. Asia as a region has generally conformed to this theory, albeit with delayed democratic transitions due to the state-directed nature of development. This article revisits the capitalism/democracy relationship in East and Southeast Asia with a particular focus on contemporary concerns with global democratic backsliding. It shows the enduring analytic and empirical utility of capitalism to explain structural pressures on democratic development. It also shows how assaults on capitalism have predictive and descriptive value as indicators of authoritarian repression and democratic backsliding. The article highlights the continued relevance of capitalism for understanding democratic development, and underscores the significance of Asia to broader debates on democratic backsliding.
This article lays out both a critique of the oxymoron ‘sustainable development’, and the potential and nuances of a Post-Development agenda. We present ecological swaraj from India and Degrowth from Europe as two examples of alternatives to development. This gives a hint of the forthcoming book, provisionally titled The Post-Development Dictionary, that is meant to deepen and widen a research, dialogue and action agenda for activists, policymakers and scholars on a variety of worldviews and practices relating to our collective search for an ecologically wise and socially just world. This volume could be one base in the search for alternatives to United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in an attempt to truly transform the world. In fact, it is an agenda towards the pluriverse: ‘a world where many worlds fit’, as the Zapatista say.
Our chapter tells a larger story about the changing political economy of the Philippines, one that is frequently characterised by regional specialists as a ‘post-developmental state’. By this, we refer to the emergent strategy of domestic elites to extend the reach of the markets across the economic, political and social spheres, thereby subjecting ordinary people to the imperatives of capitalist accumulation in a globalised world economy. Whilst the initial discussion presented in this chapter focusses on the emergence of large scale mining in the Philippines in terms of systemic factors and elite-centred narratives, later sections of the chapter explore responses of ordinary people and local communities as they become subject to the forces of globalisation. Indeed, in the later sections of the chapter, the case of ‘anti-mining’ in the Philippines demonstrates the everyday forms of civil society activism that have emerged as a response to the dislocations brought about by the rise of large scale mining – a discussion that will be placed within the wider literature on everyday politics of resistance. By stressing the ordinary weapons of relatively powerless groups, we are able to understand how ordinary people devise their livelihood and resistance strategies as they become integrated in global circuits of production and consumption. In the highly globalised mining industry, the advance of market reforms meant that national elites moulded the model of resource exploitation around the increasing legitimacy of transnational investments as the primary source of social development in the peripheral mining regions. As efforts to institutionalise neoliberalism intensify, local communities have resisted the expansion of large-scale mining. This, in turn, leaves the future of the mining industry uncertain and sensitive to domestic political challenges.
The main objective of this research is to explore the possibility of applying the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in purchasing of the organizations. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy is initiated by His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. The philosophy reflecting the principle of Thai culture is a method of development on the three foundations of moderation, reasonableness, and self-immunity. These three bases are performed with the provision of knowledge and integrity as well as the intelligence and perseverance leading to the true happiness or progress of the organization. The philosophy has been increasingly recognized. Thailand’s Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan (2012–2016) has included this philosophy as a guideline for private and public sectors. Noticeably, there are many studies and research on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in various areas including individual levels, public and private sector levels. Purchasing as a strategic sourcing contributes a great deal in the organizations. Strategic sourcing emphasizes the four elements of strategic orientation, cross-functional team, process-driven approach, and supply base management. Purchasing is one of the most important logistics activities, as an original upstream function of the supply chains. In addition, it is also closely related to other logistics activities such as transportation, customer service, etc. Literatures reveal several actions and strategies in purchasing that are consistent with the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. In spite of several research on this philosophy, there is a limited number of studies focused mainly on the application in organizational purchasing. Therefore, these provide a good venue for this research. This research investigates how organizations can use the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy in purchasing activities. As for the methodology, firstly the researcher reviews the literatures from books, articles, and research on the ‘Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy’, strategic sourcing and sustainable sourcing in order to analyze the linkage of the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy and purchasing. Secondly, document analysis is used as a qualitative research method, which the documents such as the annual reports of the companies that adopt the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy are investigated to evidence such a linkage. The finding section proposes the conceptual model for purchasing based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy. The model expects that the three foundations and the two conditions of the philosophy can be applied with organizational purchasing. Finally, further research directions and limitations are discussed.
The notion of vivir bien – a complex set of ideas, worldviews, and knowledge deriving from indigenous movements, activist groups, and scholars of indigeneity – has become an overarching principle for policy-making and state transformation processes in Andean countries. This article analyses the contradiction between the principle of vivir bien as an egalitarian utopian category and its bureaucratic application in Bolivia to state formation processes and power dynamics involving social movements. It argues that while discursively grounded on such egalitarian principles as reciprocity and rotating authority, its implementation entails bureaucratic propensities to centralise power and authority. Instead of decolonising the state, it is used to discipline the masses.
The theories of mainstream economics have been criticised for triggering periodic crises and fluctuations, as well as causing resource depletion and environmental degradation. Also, they are accused of worsening the problems of poverty and income distribution, while ignoring the well-being of people and social issues. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, bestowed by His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, for Thai people in 1997 as a tool to cope with economic adversity, is an alternative way of viewing development. The essence of the Philosophy is that people should act with due consideration, and in moderation. The Philosophy emphasizes moral behaviour by people and society, which mainstream economic thought lacks. Incorporating such human behaviours as moderation and morality into economic decision making is sensible and yields different outcomes from the typical economic framework. Moderation serves as a tool to filter out greed and consumerist behaviour. Morality leads an individual to consider the consequence of his/her actions to others and to society. Together with the reasonableness concept implying non-excessive risk taking behaviour, under the Philosophy an economy will have reduced economic fluctuations, less likelihood of an economic crisis, and sustained quality growth. The Sufficiency Economy Philosophy will make its mark in the economic development arena as an alternative thought system that works for the people and the economy.
Thailand’s politics from the mid-2000s has seen considerable conflict and contestation, with seven prime ministers, two military coups, and scores of deaths from political violence. This article, as well as introducing the eight articles in the Special Issue, examines various aspects of this tumultuous period and the authoritarian turn in Thai politics. It does this by examining some of the theoretical and conceptual analysis of Thailand's politics and critiquing the basic assumptions underlying the modernisation and hybrid regimes perspectives that have tended to dominate debates on democratisation. While the concepts of bureaucratic polity and network monarchy shed light on important political actors in Thailand, they have not grappled with the persistence of authoritarianism. In theoretical terms, the article suggests that it is necessary to understand historically specific capitalist development as well as the social underpinnings that establish authoritarian trajectories and reinforce the tenacity of authoritarianism.
The manner in which people have been talking and writing about 'development' and the rules according to which they have done so have evolved over time. Development Discourse and Global History uses the archaeological and genealogical methods of Michel Foucault to trace the origins of development discourse back to late colonialism and notes the significant discontinuities that led to the establishment of a new discourse and its accompanying industry. This book goes on to describe the contestations, appropriations and transformations of the concept. It shows how some of the trends in development discourse since the crisis of the 1980s - the emphasis on participation and ownership, sustainable development and free markets - are incompatible with the original rules and thus lead to serious contradictions. The Eurocentric, authoritarian and depoliticizing elements in development discourse are uncovered, whilst still recognizing its progressive appropriations. The author concludes by analysing the old and new features of development discourse which can be found in the debate on Sustainable Development Goals and discussing the contribution of discourse analysis to development studies. This book is aimed at researchers and students in development studies, global history and discourse analysis as well as an interdisciplinary audience from international relations, political science, sociology, geography, anthropology, language and literary studies.
Many South–South cooperation programmes have promoted development without fully discussing the implications of that concept. To evaluate this situation, recent heterodox development strategies are examined, particularly those under progressivist governments in South America. It is found that development strategies are certainly plural, but they all share a common pre-political background. To address this feature, the concept of ‘varieties of development’ is introduced. Then a new typology on the disputes over development is presented. Three types are recognised (controversies within a specific variety of development; disputes among different varieties; and disputes on alternatives to all varieties of development). The concept of Buen Vivir is presented as an alternative to development, and disputes of the third type, that involve this concept, are examined. Paradoxically, as the current focus of South–South cooperation is to reinforce conventional varieties of development, it is blocking alternatives, even the Southern option of Buen Vivir.
There is an urgent demand for the examination of the critical perceptions of new kinds of ‘development’ which are emerging in the Global South in response to—and often opposed to—the global capitalist political economy. This article discusses the case of contemporary Bolivia in which indigenous political alternatives have emerged as the resistance to economic globalization and the powers of capital accumulation, as well as to the cultural and epistemological commitments of the Western order. Through an ethnographic approach, it examines the emergence and shortcomings of the notion of vivir bien—a local, decolonial, indigenous concept of good life—as state policy. It argues that despite its transformative potential, the translation of vivir bien discourses into state practices has not been, to a large degree, achieved.
Jatropha has been largely supported over the past five years for use in producing biodiesel and to alleviate the problem of competition for raw materials, between food and energy industry. In addition, jatropha can even be planted in remote locations. Nevertheless, many areas have failed in cultivating jatropha due to problems with low crop yields, harvesting and potentially toxic by-products. Hence, this study analyzed the factors capable of making jatropha a stable product for communities with guidelines for promoting sustainable cultivation by studying the Wiang Sa Cooperative in the province of Nan, which has been successful in growing jatropha. At the core of this success is the application of the Sufficiency Economy theory in the community context in combination with returning profits to society. The aforementioned work is an excellent model for people in an era of globalization and capitalism.
“Sufficiency economy” is a philosophy presented more than 25 years ago by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It is used to guide the way that Thai villagers live. The Thai government used this philosophy as a base for the nation’s development plan. This study focused on three research questions: First, how do the villagers live while following the philosophy of sufficiency economy? Second, what difficulties impede the implementation of the philosophy? Finally, how does the philosophy of sufficiency economy help to increase social and environmental sustainability? We studied four villages in Thailand (three in the northeast and one in the south). We collected data by conducting in-depth interviews, administering a fieldwork survey, and gathering responses from a focus group. We subjected the data that we gathered to content and descriptive analyses. In this study, we found that the philosophy of sufficiency economy can be used by individuals to manage their livelihoods by planting vegetables for personal consumption or sale, domesticating animals, saving money within a cooperative society, protecting the environment, and following moral principles and ethics. In addition, this philosophy can be used to manage social and environmental sustainability in Thailand, and the philosophy can apply to other areas to understand the conditions of the people in a particular community.
As part of a growing environmental movement in Thailand, a small number of Buddhist monks engage in ecological conservation projects. These "ecology monks" teach ecologically sound practices among Thai farmers and criticize rapid economic development nationwide (which they see as one of the primary causes of the country's environmental crisis). This article examines how one northern Thai monk used a tree ordination, adapted from a traditional Buddhist ritual, to build villagers' commitment to his ecology projects.
This paper analyzes concept of Sufficiency Economy and how it can be applied to community development. Because of its flexibility and differences, applying the Sufficiency Economy principle depends on numerous community-related factors. The aim is examining the principle and studying how it poses physical, social and economic effects at community levels. This paper is also studying life change in accordance with the concept of Sufficiency Economy that determines the physical and socio-economic conditions in communities in order to define a policy that encourages community developments under Sufficiency Economy concept. This paper compares communal life change principles with three standard principles; that is, the principles by His Majesty the King, National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) and Bangkok Metropolitan, under the basic concept of Sufficiency Economy. The results are employed as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for pilot communities in Bangkok Metropolitan.
The objective of this article is to explain the relation between social capital and the strength of sufficiency economy communities. The studied areas (communities) are Bann Rang E-Meay and Bann Saradin in Nakhon Pathom province. The researcher studied social capital in twelve community organizations in Bann Rang E-Meay and six community organizations in Bann Saradin. The results of this study are 1) the community organizations in both communities can be categorized into two groups which are established by the government and by the people's participation (natural group): 2) social capital is the most important foundation to strengthen the communities: and 3) social capital is related to the sufficiency economy way of life.
This essay provides a counterpoint to the postmodern interpretations of social movements in Latin America. Its purpose is to argue for the necessity of a class analysis of these movements. The main focus of this argument is on the emergence of what has been labelled ‘new peasant movements’, which, it is argued, constitute the most dynamic forces of resistance to neoliberal capitalism in Latin America. Postmodernism in this context is viewed as a deficient intellectual approach, premised as it is on an idealist conception of reality.
Author's Preface to the TranslationTranslator's NoteThe Thai Village Economy in the PastPreface1.From the Primordial Village Community to the Village under the SakdinaSystem 2.The Subsistence Village Economy under the Sakdina System, 1455-1855 3.From the Subsistence Village Economy to the Commercial Economy in theCentral Region, 1855-1932 4.The Persistence of the Subsistence Village Economy in the North, South, andIsan, 1855-19325.Conclusion
NotesAppendix 1: Question Guide for Interviewing VillagersAppendix 2: Details of IntervieweesAfterword: Chatthip and the Thai Village
This article examines the mass protests against Thailand's billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006. Over a series of several months, hundreds of thousands of people took part in demonstrations that created a deep political crisis and forced Thaksin to call snap elections. This political crisis was partly a result of intra-elite conflict between the old power elite and Thaksin's “CEO-style” rule, which opened up space for a broader politicisation. However, a closer look at Thaksin's own mass support and a comparison of his populism with Venezuela's President Chávez leads us to the analysis that the crisis resulted from deeper contradictions within Thaksin's “post neo-liberal” capitalist restructuring project. The movement against Thaksin thus drew on and brought together different sections of Thai society rebelling against Free Trade Agreements, privatisation and authoritarian, corporate-dominated politics. The article concludes with some reflections on the movement and the question of royal intervention and the coup d'état.
This article involves an assessment of Paul Handley's important book, The King Never Smiles. A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej. The article begins with a dis-cussion of the supposed threat the book posed to the monarchy and outlines the attempts to pre-vent publication. It then outlines Handley's evaluation of the involvement of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's palace in Thailand's modern politics. It uses this approach as a way to examine the clash of elites within Thailand's ruling class that led to a royalist campaign against the Thaksin Shinawatra government and the 2006 military coup. In The King Never Smiles. A Biography of Thailand's Bhumibol Adulyadej (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), Paul Handley, a former Thailand-based correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), has produced one of the most controversial books in English about modern Thailand. The King Never Smiles is also one of the best and most fascinating books on Thailand to be published in the past two decades. In this article, I begin with an examination of the controversy surrounding the publication of this important book, then review its contents and, finally, I attempt to take elements of Handley's analysis further through an examination of the events leading to the 2006 military coup. That Handley's almost 500-page book would be controversial was guaranteed by the subject of this biography. In Thailand, public criticism of King Bhumibol his family, projects and ideas is not permitted (see Thongchai, 2008). In his December 2005 birthday speech, while the king appeared to invite criticism of himself and his work (see Bhumibol, 2005), very few analysts have been willing to accept this invitation, especially aslèse majesteharges are commonly invoked in Thailand.
This paper describes how a cluster of rural communities in North-East Thailand has managed to reverse more than two decades of environmental degradation that had resulted from the relentless pursuit of modern economic development, resource exploitation and ecosystem trans-formation. This process of 'clawing back' local control over local development, following a period of 'crowding out' by extra-local agencies and actors, is set against a back-drop of shifts in the locus and balance of what Dowding (1996, 4) has called 'outcome power' or an enabling 'power to'. The paper identifies the key actors and factors that lie behind this 'power shift', and sets these against a background of democratisation processes and localist discourse in post-crisis Thailand.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is difficult in poor settings. In 2001, the Thai government adopted the policy to scale-up its treatment initiative to meet the needs of all its people. Employing qualitative approaches, including in-depth interviews, document review and direct observation, this study examines the processes by which the universal ART policy developed between 2001 and 2007, with the focus on the connections between actors who shared common interests--so-called policy networks. Research findings illustrate the crucial contributions of non-state networks in the policy process. The supportive roles of public-civic networks could be observed at every policy stage, and at different levels of the health sector. Although this particular health policy may be unique in case and setting, it does suggest clearly that while the state dominated the policy process initially, non-state actors played extremely important roles. Their contribution was not simply at agenda-setting stages--for example by lobbying government--but in the actual development and implementation of health policy. Further it illustrates that these processes were dynamic, took place over long periods and were not limited to national borders, but extended beyond, to include global actors and processes.
Thailand experienced dramatic political turmoil from February 2006 to November 2008 culminating in the occupation of the Bangkok International Airport. The demonstrations against then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his political allies were organised by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). One of the PAD leaders, Major-General Chamlong Srimuang, is an active member of the Buddhist Santi Asoke group. The group is controversial as it is not under the state Buddhist authorities and has implicitly criticised the Thai state Buddhist monks for moral corruption. Known as the ‘Dharma Army’, hundreds of Santi Asoke monks, nuns and lay people participated in PAD demonstrations. This paper analyses what the Santi Asoke Buddhist group represents, what the ‘Dharma Army’ is, how its reality differs from media images, what the ideological reasons for Asoke to initially support Thaksin were, and why the group finally turned against him. The paper argues that the group cannot be viewed as a monolithic community. Instead, it should be considered as an amalgamation of monks and nuns, urban and rural temple residents, lay followers of Asoke monks, practitioners of organic agriculture in Asoke village communities, students and former students of Asoke schools, and supporters of Major-General Chamlong Srimuang. Representatives of all these networks participated in the demonstrations albeit with different intensity. ----- Zwischen Februar 2006 und November 2008 stand Thailand unter dem Zeichen tiefgehender politischer Unruhen, die in der Besetzung des internationalen Flughafens ihren Höhepunkt fanden. Organisiert wurden diese Demonstrationen, die sich gegen den damaligen Premierminister Thaksin Shinawatra und seine politischen Verbündeten richteten, von der Volksallianz für Demokratie (PAD). Einer ihrer Anführer, Generalmajor Chamlong Srimuang, ist aktives Mitglied der buddhistischen Santi Asoke Gruppe. Da sich Santi Asoke nicht der staatlich kontrollierten buddhistischen Ordnung beugt und solche Mönche implizit der moralischen Verdorbenheit beschuldigt, hängt ihr ein kontroverser Ruf an. Unter der Bezeichnung „Dharma Armee“ nahmen hunderte Anhänger von Santi Asoke, darunter Mönche, Nonnen und Laien an den PAD- Demonstrationen teil. Inhalt dieses Artikels ist daher die Analyse der Hintergründe und Ziele der Santi Asoke Gruppe und der „Dharma Armee“, Unterschiede zwischen medialer Darstellung und vorgefundener Realität sowie die Motive der anfänglichen Unterstützung Thaksins durch Santi Asoke und ihre spätere Abkehr von ihm. Dabei wird argumentiert, dass die Gruppe nicht als monolithischer Block verstanden werden kann, sondern in ihrer Vielfalt, zusammengesetzt aus Mönchen, Nonnen, EinwohnerInnen städtischer und ländlicher Tempel, Laien, AnhängerInnen biologischer Landwirtschaft in Asoke-Dörfern sowie UnterstützerInnen von Generalmajor Chamlong Srimuang begriffen werden muss. RepräsentantInnen all dieser Netzwerke nahmen, wenn auch in unterschiedlicher Intensität, an den Demonstrationen teil.
World Conqueror and World Renouncer is the first comprehensive and authoritative work on the relationship between Buddhism and the polity (political organization) in Thailand. The book conveys the historical background necessary for full comprehension of the contemporary structural relationship between Buddhism, the sangha (monastic order), and the polity, including the historic institution of kingship. Professor Tambiah delineates the overall relationship, as postulated in early Buddhism, between the monk's otherworldly quest on one side and the this-worldly ordinating role of the monarchy on the other. He also examines the complementary and dialectical tensions that occur in this classical relationship, the king's duty to both protect and purify the sangha being a notable example.
I. INTRODUCTION. 1. Twentieth-Century Music and the Past. II. THE BREAKDOWN OF TRADITIONAL TONALITY. 2. The Sources. 3. The Revolution: Paris. 4. The Revolution: Vienna. III. THE NEW TONALITIES. 5. Stravinsky and Neo-Classicism. 6. Neo-Classicism and Neo-Tonality in France. 7. The Diffusion of Neo-Classicism and Neo-Tonality. 8. National Styles. 9. Opera and Musical Theater. IV. ATONALITY AND TWELVE-TONE MUSIC. 10. The Viennese School. 11. The Diffusion of Twelve-Tone Music. V. THE AVANT-GARDE. 12. Introduction: Before World War II. 13. Technological Culture and Electronic Music. 14. Ultra-Rationality and Serialism. 15. Anti-Rationality and Aleatory. 16. The New Performed Music: The United States. 17. Post-Serialism: The New Performance Practice in Europe. VI. POST-MODERNISM. 18. Beyond Modern Music. 19. Back to Tonality. 20. Pop as Culture. 21. Media and Theater. Appendix: Music Examples. Index.
Thailand’s politics is in a fragile state. A lack of consensus around basic “rules of the game” among elites and civil societal groups renders the country highly volatile and unstable. Violence has been all too evident in recent political disputes. The February 2, 2014 elections witnessed a significant change in the pattern of electoral violence. It changed from targeted killings among rival candidates to mob violence aimed at disrupting the electoral processes and institutions. The degree of violence was the highest in the country’s electoral history. Urban middle class protesters, mobilised as the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) employed violent tactics to disrupt electoral voter registration, voting and vote counting activities. Six million registered voters were affected by the closure of polling stations. The PDRC’s animosity towards the election marked an unprecedented development. By disrupting the election, it rejected the peaceful and democratic way for the public to decide who should govern. The case of the PDRC movement demonstrated that activities of confrontational civil society can sometimes cause deadly conflicts and the breakdown of democracy.
The research objectives were 1) to construct development strategy for economic status elevation of Sri-utumporn Community, 2) to experiment the constructed development strategy for economic status elevation based on Suffíciency- Economy Philosophy (SEP) through system approach, and 3) to determine satisfaction level of experiment group for implementation of development strategy for economic status elevation based on SEP through system approach. The research design was mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The Multi-stage random sampling was used for sampling 102 households from 499 households of Sri-Utumpon Community, Nongkrot Subdistrict, Nakhon Sawan Province for qualitative research with focus group discussion for construction development strategy for economic status elevation based on SEP through system approach. The purposive sampling was employed for selection of experimental and control groups for Quasi- experimental research.The results were as followings: the constructed economic status elevation based on SEP comprised 4 system units included 1) raising more income, 2) reducing expenses, 3) increasing saving, and 4) paying debt gradually and regularly. The mean scores of knowledge and understanding, and acceptance of development strategy for economic status elevation based on SEP was higher than the control group at statistically significant level of 0.01. Their satisfaction level as a whole was at good level.
How did the industrialized nations of North America and Europe come to be seen as the appropriate models for post-World War II societies in Asia, Africa, and Latin America? How did the postwar discourse on development actually create the so-called Third World? And what will happen when development ideology collapses? To answer these questions, Arturo Escobar shows how development policies became mechanisms of control that were just as pervasive and effective as their colonial counterparts. The development apparatus generated categories powerful enough to shape the thinking even of its occasional critics while poverty and hunger became widespread. "Development" was not even partially "deconstructed" until the 1980s, when new tools for analyzing the representation of social reality were applied to specific "Third World" cases. Here Escobar deploys these new techniques in a provocative analysis of development discourse and practice in general, concluding with a discussion of alternative visions for a postdevelopment era. Escobar emphasizes the role of economists in development discourse--his case study of Colombia demonstrates that the economization of food resulted in ambitious plans, and more hunger. To depict the production of knowledge and power in other development fields, the author shows how peasants, women, and nature became objects of knowledge and targets of power under the "gaze of experts." In a substantial new introduction, Escobar reviews debates on globalization and postdevelopment since the book's original publication in 1995 and argues that the concept of postdevelopment needs to be redefined to meet today's significantly new conditions. He then calls for the development of a field of "pluriversal studies," which he illustrates with examples from recent Latin American movements. © 1995 by Princeton University Press. 1995 by Princeton University Press.
The King of Thailand’s Sufficiency Economy (SE) has been heralded and influential in Thailand. It was also featured in the United Nations Development Programme Thailand Human Development Report 2007. Reports and personal stories of applying the SE are widely available. A striking remark is that many of these claims were backdated. Projects, activities, and practice claimed to be its implementation predated the SE in its present form. As the SE is caught in political struggles, this is perceived to reveal propaganda. In this article, through a case of Phooyai Wiboon’s agroforestry, the act of backdating the claims is analyzed and re-interpreted with help of Ricoeur’s concept of narrative time.
This paper examines the links between Bangkok's smoking skyline and the political and economic aspirations of North Eastern Thais. The author proposes that much of what was at stake during the 2009 and 2010 political upheaval was closely tied to a constricted sense of citizenship apparent
in the frustrated political and economic aspirations expressed by North East Thailand's urban poor. Through an ethnographic analysis of the experiences of residents of Khon Kaen's railway communities as they participate in a new housing project, the paper explores the obstacles that poor citizens
encounter when they try to 'become right with the law' and 'unite' in the name of 'developing' themselves, their communities, their cities and their nation. In reflecting on the politics of belonging that arise during this project, the author's analysis reveals how hard these citizens work
to comply with laws and to take part in national development projects, even when many of those same laws and processes frequently work against them. The author argues that, although coups and mass mobilizations form the most public faces of the current political moment, they simply reflect
more pernicious, complex forms of the everyday politics facing poor citizens. Indeed, these frustrated aspirations expose the links between Bangkok's burning shopping malls and the charred provincial government buildings of the North East (Isan). The analysis suggests that the events of 2009
and 2010 were not an uprising against the state, but rather a movement demanding recognition and the opening of the political and economic order to the poor as full citizens.
A small country with a vast colonial empire, Portugal was to experience the longest-surviving right-wing dictatorship in twentieth-century Europe. Costa Pinto identifies the links between Salazarism and European fascism. He includes an analytical summary of the interpretations of Salazarism and its origins, both in the context of the debate on European fascism and, more generally, in the context of authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century.
Thailand's 2006 coup unleashed deadly political conflict as a conservative elite rallied against Thaksin Shinawatra and his red shirt supporters. Further strife was predicted in the wake of Yingluck Shinawatra's 2011 election victory. But, as Kevin Hewison reports, the expected clashes have not yet materialised.
After the 1997 Asian markets crash, the theory of the “sufficiency economy” altered the discourse of development in Thailand. Emphasizing Buddhist notions of moderation and “enough” sufficiency recast development as a means to temper socio-economic volatility by reforming consumer affect. Sufficiency theory pinned the nation's economic upheaval on excessive desires, attempting to intervene in these impulses through projects rooted in personal moderation and communality. In this article, I explore the relationship between politics, citizenship, and sufficiency. Through ethnographic analysis of cases from urban squatter settlements taking part in state-driven participatory urban planning policies, I argue that sufficiency has become central to debates over citizenship in contemporary Thailand. Urban planners use sufficiency to attempt to produce what they term “personal development” and to attempt to defuse political claims by training the poor to moderate their demands by learning “enough.” I also show how residents of squatter communities use the language and practices of sufficiency to make political claims and to demonstrate their legitimacy as citizens with rights to the city. In doing so, I demonstrate how notions of sustainable development tied to moderation extend and potentially interrupt social inequalities.
The contemporary world is witnessing the growing re-assertion of public religion, including attempts to reorient economic organization and action according to religious teachings. One such attempt is the Thai concept of “sufficiency economy,” an economic model based on the collected sayings and development projects of Thailand’s king. The author examines the sufficiency economy model from three perspectives. First, he analyzes the origins and principles of sufficiency economy as a model for Buddhist economics. Second, he critically analyzes some possible political uses and misuses of the sufficiency economy discourse. Finally, he comparatively examines sufficiency economy in relation to Islamic finance and Gandhian economics.
This analysis places the causes and objectives of the Zapatista uprising in relation both to those of other agrarian movements, and to debates about them. Longstanding disagreements on the political left about indigenous autonomy and micro-level nationalist aspirations are examined with particular reference to ‘from above’ and ‘from below’ variants of indigenista discourse in Mexico. Of particular interest is the way in which the discourse about indigenous peasant ‘otherness’ necessarily generates a disempowering intra-class conflict, an issue linked in turn to the broader political economy of indigenismo. It is argued that, in many respects, the true precursors of the 1990s Zapatistas are the 1920s Cristeros and 1930s Sinarquistas, each of which constitutes a traditionalist form of anti-capitalist peasant movement belonging to the same agrarian populist lineage. The political efficacy of a Zapatista programme (cultural autonomy, human rights, systemically non-specific democracy) that leaves the wider class structure and its state intact is questioned. ‘This journey has only served to confirm this belief, that the division of America into unstable and illusory nations is a complete fiction. We are one single mestizo race with remarkable ethnographic similarities, from Mexico down to the Magellan Straits.’ – Ernesto Che Guevara [ 200457.
Guevara , Ernesto Che . 2004. The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey, London and New York: Fourth Estate. View all references ] after having travelled round Latin America on a motorcycle during the early 1950s. ‘During the late disastrous season, in the autumn of 1839, in a distant western county, when there was no hope of seed-sowing, the little farmers without capital, whose existence seemed to depend upon it, were cheerful and contented; and this was uniformly more the case in proportion to their poverty. If there came a deluge of rain, they said, “God's will be done.” If there came a fine day, they said, “God sent it.” And all their conduct and conversation was so resigned and buoyant, as to shame both landlords and merchants, and other rich men, who at the same period were suffering a comparatively small diminution in their prosperity, from the difficulties of the times and the dearness of provisions.’ – The idealization by Bosanquet [ 184115.
Bosanquet , S. R. 1841. The Rights of the Poor and Christian Almsgiving Vindicated; or the State and Character of the Poor, and the Conduct and Duties of the Rich, Exhibited and Illustrated, London: James Burns, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square. View all references : 164] of resignation among impoverished Irish farmers occasioned by religious belief as one of the ‘Virtues of the Poor’. ‘During the third and last general election under the Spanish Republic, a lean, underfed Andalusian land-worker was standing in the queue before a polling booth in Granada. A conservative agent who hung about on the lookout for votes to be bought showed him a silver duro (or crown) in the hollow of his hand. The worker met the manoeuvre with a blank stare. The agent produced a twenty-five peseta note. Another blank stare. Piqued, he produced a one hundred peseta note, almost a fortune for the poor wretch. Unmoved, the worker out of work let fall a lapidary phrase: “En mi hambre mando yo.” I am master of my hunger.’ – The recognition by a liberal bourgeois theorist [de Madariaga, 195842.
de Madariaga , Salvador . 1958. Democracy versus Liberty? The Faith of a Liberal Heretic, London: Pall Mall Press. View all references : 1–2] of both the existence and the power of class consciousness among the rural workers in 1930s Spain. 1 1 This particular epigraph is included to make the point that at the rural grassroots consciousness of class not merely exists but is also politically important. Such an observation – which might normally be considered obvious, not to say trite – is currently necessary, because the idea of a consciousness of class has been attacked recently from two directions. First, by the ‘new’ postmodern populism (see below) that dismisses class as ‘foundational’ and any consciousness thereof as an act of Eurocentric theoretical ‘privileging’. And second, by the many ex-Marxists who are converts to and enthusiastic supporters of this ‘new’ postmodern populism. Like the original adherents of the latter, such ex-Marxists now see the rural workforce in any/every geographical/historical context as incapable of transcending ethnic/national identity, perceived both by them and by ‘new’ postmodern populists as ‘natural’, innate and empowering. View all notes ‘Depend upon it there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.’ – Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Watson in ‘A Case of Identity’ [Conan Doyle, 192836.
Conan , Arthur Doyle . 1928. Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories, London: John Murray, Albermarle Street. View all references : 56].
The king of Thailand articulated the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP). Supporters of sustainable development, including the United Nations Development Program, have embraced the SEP. However, the SEP also confronts many critics, perhaps in part because critics disapprove the monarchy's perceived political outlook. The SEP is understood most usefully as a primer to help Thais, especially those with modest assets, to make their way among the largely unfamiliar signposts of globalized markets. In support of this understanding, the article introduces broadly similar, norm-focused survival guides associated historically with the onset of capitalism in Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The prominent Thai scholar, Chatthip Natsupha, has gone from being a Marxist intellectual in the 1970s to a cultural nationalist advocate of a genuine Thai essence which, he believes, is an antidote to the dominance of the Western neoliberal capitalism. His case is not an anomaly. The intellectual path from the Marxist left to the cultural nationalist right is well-trodden and reflects broader changes in nationalism in the country. The cultural nationalist Thai ex-left rejected what it called 'bad' nationalism and embraced a 'good' one. However, its ideas were significantly drawn from conservative nationalism. Such nationalism, which is widespread among the Thai intelligentsia, was an important factor in their support for the military coup which, in 2006, ousted an elected government on the dubious grounds that it was a proxy for global capitalism.
The post‐development critique of development discourse has by now been widely discussed and criticised. Post‐development texts have been interpreted as a cynical legitimation of neoliberalism or a futile romanticisation of premodern times; more sympathetic critics have at least acknowledged its potential to criticise the shortcomings of development theory and policy. There is, however, widespread agreement on the assumptions that post‐development can be seen as a Foucaultian critique of development and that it forms a sort of theoretical school. This article is concerned with challenging these assumptions by showing that 1) post‐development only employs (if at all) a rather impoverished version of Foucault's discourse analysis; 2) there are in fact two variants to be found under the heading post‐development—a sceptical and a neo‐populist one—and most of the criticisms are only valid for the latter. Whereas neo‐populist post‐development has reactionary political consequences, sceptical post‐development uses elements of postmodern and post‐Marxist theory and can best be described as a manifesto of radical democracy in the field of development studies. For scholars interested in emancipation, the point is to identify the crucial differences between post‐development sliding into (sometimes reactionary) neo‐populism and post‐development converging with theories of radical democracy.
According to Fred Curtis (2003, p. 83), ‘the road to environmental sustainability lies in the creation of local, self-reliant, community economies’, a phenomenon he has labelled ‘eco-localism’. Eco-localism focuses on place-specific responses to place-specific challenges, set at the scale of the community, with its place-specific history, culture, social fabric and local ecosystem. It argues the need for a local social economics, which has the capability to protect, maintain, enhance or rehabilitate local resources and environments. Curtis identifies a need to explore the means and potential for taking the eco-localism idea from principle to practice. This paper seeks to add some empirical meat to Curtis's theoretical bones. The paper uses a case study from North-East Thailand to describe the sequential ‘crowding out’ and ‘clawing back’ of social institutional control of local development and its social and environmental consequences. It places worsening problems of environmental degradation, resource depletion and social differentiation in the context of the dynamics of spatial integration and modern economic development. It then describes how processes of neo-localism, congruent with recent changes in the wider Thai and international context, have been responsible for reversing a number of ecological problems and strengthening sammakee, or communal harmony, principally by means of Buddhist institutions and principles. The empirical case-study fits very neatly with Curtis's theoretical eco-localism construct. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The rice and fall of Yingluck Shinawatra. The former Thai prime minister faces a potential jail term over a bungled rice scheme
- Asit K Biswas
- J Matthew Kastner
- C Tortajada