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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

and became entrenched in the public services. From the 1930s to the 1980s,
the military high command dominated politics, and developed a belief in its
right to rule. As the urban economy grew in the post-war era of development,

new business groups grew powerful through their command of wealth, and
demanded access to power through connections and through parliamentary
politics. As prosperity spread upcountry, and better communications tied the
provincial areas more tightly to the capital, a provincial business elite emerged
and demanded a share of power. More recently, the senior judiciary and parts of
civil society have also become important.

With the emergence of each new center of power, there has been a period
of disruption, conflict, and negotiation of a revised distribution of power.
Although noble families and old money figure strongly in this oligarchy, this
has never been a closed elite. Indeed its resilience has come partly from its
openness and flexibility.

After the coup in May 2014, the military government under the leadership
of the National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) invited leaders of major
big business groups in the country to be “Planners and Partners” in big projects
that would elevate Thailand to the rank of high-income countries. This scheme is
called Pracharat, “people state.” The roles for big business leaders include being
“trainers” to help small farmers and SMEs. Some analysts expect the scheme to
boost the confidence of both foreign and local businesses, leading to a quick
economic revival (Saranya, 2015). However this scheme undermines the concept
of a level playing field, the need for limits on monopolies, and the principle
that small producers have rights of participation and management of their
local resources (Prajak and Veerayooth, 2017). Meanwhile leaders in big business
groups and their close kin and associates are able to work closely with high-ranking

generals and civil servants in important ministries, giving rise to opportunities
to push for policies that they prefer. In the short term at least the Pracharat
scheme is likely to increase inequalities.
The persistence of economic inequality is a function of the strength of
oligarchy. The rule of the few is found not only at the national level but in the
operation of institutions at all level of society. The few rule and prosper by

cultivating and defending privileges and monopolies of various kinds, and by
opposing extension of the rule of law which might form the foundations for
greater equality. The book, Unequal Thailand: Aspects of Income, Wealth and

176 Inequality and Policy

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