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วารสารราชบััณฑิิตยสภา
ปีีที่่� ๔๕ ฉบัับัที่่� ๒ พฤษภาคม-สิิงหาคม ๒๕๖๓
2 ทฤษฎีีระบบราชการกับการจััดระเบียบบริหารราชการแผ่่นดินในสมััยอยุธยา

Abstract: Bureaucratic theory and governmental administration of Ayutthaya Period
Association Professor Dr. Kovit Wongsurawat
Associate Fellow of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences,
The Royal Society of Thailand

As a lecturer in history and political science, teaching a course on the
politics and government of Thailand, I had a chance to explore with my
students some new approaches in our studies of government during of the

Ayutthaya period. By applying some fundamental principles from the field
of public administration, we found new analytical tools which unexpectedly
deepened and enriched our understanding of how ancient Ayutthaya was
governed.
In their functioning, the governments of kingdoms and nations alike

depend on bureaucracies, and all bureaucracies are balanced upon the
principle of hierarchy because the administrations of large organizations depend
on clearly stipulated levels and divisions of authority. The German social theorist

and researcher, Max Weber identified hierarchy as an essential principle of
bureaucracy. As Weber explained in modern times, it is the duty of civil servants
at various higher levels to lead those at lower levels under their command.
Order of rank and power in the civil service ensure that individuals posted
above will be able to closely control individuals posted below them. In the

th
rapidly industrializing western world of the late 19 Century, Henri Fayol,
a French mining engineer and mining executive also concluded that businessmen
needed to be aware of some basic principles of administration. Fayol observed

that no individual worker will be able to satisfactorily carry out disparate orders
coming from two or more bosses. This is a classic warning about administrative
hierarchies generally, whether in the public or in the private sector.
But when our class studied the administrative bureaucracy which
supported the governing of the Ayutthaya period, especially since the reform of

the administrative order of the civil service of Somdej Phraborommatrailokkanat,