State Of The Nation Thailand

While Thailand is fast acquiring the status of newly-industrializing economy in the 1980s and 1990s, our knowledge and understanding may be based on stereotypes from the post-colonial transformation. We may end up neglecting many of the significant new issues in Thailand that may well determine questions of stability and prosperity in the future. This book provides a thoughtful overview of the significant political, economic and social developments that have shaped Thailand over the last two decades. Bibliography. Index.

Despite competing with much larger imperialist neighbors in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Thailand—or Siam, as it was formerly known—has succeeded in transforming itself into a rival modern nation-state over the last two centuries. Recent historiography has placed progress—or lack thereof—toward Western-style liberal democracy at the center of Thailand’s narrative, but that view underestimates the importance of the colonial context. In particular, a long-standing relationship with China and the existence of a large and important Chinese diaspora within Thailand have shaped development at every stage. As the emerging nation struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese entrepreneurs were neither a colonial force against whom Thainess was identified, nor had they been able to fully assimilate into Thai society. Wasana Wongsurawat demonstrates that the Kingdom of Thailand’s transformation into a modern nation-state required the creation of a national identity that justified not only the hegemonic rule of monarchy but also the involvement of the ethnic Chinese entrepreneurial class upon whom it depended. Her revisionist view traces the evolution of this codependent relationship through the twentieth century, as Thailand struggled against colonial forces in Southeast Asia, found itself an ally of Japan in World War II, and reconsidered its relationship with China in the postwar era.

"Thailand is exceptional among modern states in Asia in that it has built and retianed a national culture around a traditional monarchic institution. Moreover, this culture has also been based on a dominant religious tradition, that of Theravada Buddhism. ... Significant tensions have arisen from the efforts by members of the Thai elite to make the monarchical traditions ... basic to Thai national culture. Other tensions have arisen as monarchy, military, bureaucracy, the Buddhist sangha, business interests, and elected political representatives assert or maintain an authoritative position in the state structure. This book examines these tensions with reference to the major changes in Thai society, economy, polity, and culture in the twentieth century, especially since World War II."--From dust jacket.

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