Balancing Economic Development and Social Strengthening

Transcription

1 Balancing Economic Development and Social Strengthening International Conference on Balancing the Economic Growth and Social Strengthening in Asia and Global 12 th 14 th March 2012 at the Shangri La Hotel, Bangkok, THAILAND Organized by The National Economic and Social Advisory Council

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3 Balancing Economic Development and Social Strengthening The National Economic and Social Advisory Council hppt://

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5 Content Preface vii Chapter 1 Concept about sustainable development 1 Chapter 2 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy 7 Chapter 3 The global change and its effect on Thai society 23 Chapter 4 Guidelines for Reforms in Thailand in a Time 37 of Change Chapter 5 Economic Research Synthesis, society 45 and the environment to be stable and have sustainable development

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7 Preface Past national development amid global trends centered on income growth as an index for development success, in the hope that being an industrial country would help increasing employment, goods and services, upgrading of life quality that the development outcome would result in a trickle down effect. Although such approach makes possible economic growth, on the other hand it has created social and environmental problems, e.g. the inequality in the region and among the haves and the have nots, the inaccessibility to social welfare and protection, violation, social behavior such as getting involved with drugs, crime, HIV/AIDS epidemic, terrorism, etc., the degradation of natural resources and the environment, climate change, the greenhouse effect, the loss of biodiversity, etc. This imbalance of development resulted in demand trends all over the world to search for development approaches that could create balance and happiness of human beings and their surroundings, giving rise to global development trends aiming at the sustainable development from 1972 until the present. Such a concept has been put forth in every dimension so that the benchmarks are created in a variety of indices, e.g. the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Gross National Happiness of Bhutan, the Green Economy of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), etc. For Thailand, the principles of moderation, responsible consumption and selfimmunity from His Majesty the King of Thailand s Sufficiency Economy philosophy are important guidelines in ensuring sustainable and inclusive development and human security. Sharing ideas and information on social and economic matters among countries in the same region is becoming extremely important and valuable since the complexity of the current economic and social situation and the fast changing world, and individual nations face many challenges including the uncertainty of external

8 viii BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING factors. The NESAC of Thailand, realizing the importance of building a network of Economic and Social councils and similar organizations in Asia and other regions, would like to invite the presidents or representatives of Economic and Social Councils (ESC) and related organizations to join the International Conference on Balancing the Economic Growth and Social Strengthening in Asia and Globally. This document has been prepared for the International Conference of the National Economic and Social Advisory Councils or Asian similar organizations by putting together ideas on creating a balance of economic development and social strength in a universal direction under the sustainable development, philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy and balanced development, including the readiness for change in global trends, the mainstream analysis of global change and the impact on Thai society, Thailand reform approaches amid the trends of internal and external change as well as the synthesis of integrated research on the new balanced economics. All of which are divided into 5 chapters as shown below: Chapter 1: The universal concept on sustainable development has been mentioned as a development idea as an idea of global society since 1972 when the world turned its attention to a large degree to the environment and to the quality of development over the quantitative growth of a human being and the surroundings irrespective of economic, social and environmental dimensions. These are the answers to sustainable development and are as well the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that every member country has to accomplish by Chapter 2: The Philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy and its development is a philosophy for livelihood that could be applied to all levels of individuals, households, communities, countries and to the global community. Three basic characteristics are moderation, reasonableness and immunity, under which two conditions for decision making and execution of development activities have been knowledge and virtuousness. The Philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy has been well accepted in international forum, when the United Nations presented His Majesty the King the highest achievement award on Human Development (Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award) in 2006 and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published the report on the Sufficiency Economic and Human Development in the following year. Chapter 3: Trends of global change, the impact on Thai society and the mobilization of globalization circulating all over the world have potentially created at least 5 trends of change as follows: 1) Global capitalism in the mode of production and the expansion of a market based economy has lowered the priority of a centrally planned economy and given rise to a multi hub global economy which is a multipolar capitalist economy. Moreover, the rapid development of computer technology

9 Preface ix and innovation for communications also stimulates the accessibility to the Fourth Wave or the Nano Age; 2) The Global climate tends to cause food and energy crises in all global regions as well as urging the global community to deal with global warming and the greenhouse effect; 3) Demographic changes under two categories, i.e. rapid increase in the ageing populace and the migration of the populace such as in forms of labour migration or tourism, etc.; 4) The constant impact owing to the European debt crisis and 5) A revolutionary wave of changes in the Arab world or the Arab Spring. Such foregoing potential developments have affected Thai society in two ends: 1) The structure and mode of production of Thai society will enter an industry sector in a full blown manner where a majority of workers will be wage earners; meanwhile, agricultural workers will rely on income from an industry sector and they are getting older, 2) Adjustment of concepts and sets of ideas of development, irrespective of paradigm shifts, reform of product structures in both agriculture and industry sectors, adjustment of the export based economy to domestic dependency, including on welfare reform approaching a welfare society. Chapter 4: The Thailand Reform Approach amid the Winds of Change is the recommendation which the National Economic and Social Advisory Council submitted to the Cabinet. It concerns the reforms in four aspects and two conditions as follows: 1) Social reform, aiming to become a creative and peaceful society, while people are living peacefully on the key basis of education and religion 2) Economic reform, aiming to initiate a creative and fair economy under the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy; 3) Reform of natural resources and the environment, so as to give rise to sustainable management of natural resources and environmental management; 4) Reform of national administration within the forms of Transparency, Decentralization, Participation, Administration of Law and Justice under the conditions to develop the interaction of all society sectors into a holistic and integrated procedure, along with preparedness for changes and conditions of sustainable development. Chapter 5: This is the chapter for synthesizing the integrated research on the new balanced economy. Two dimensions of a situation model are applied as follows: 1) A dimension on economic, social and environmental issues by using the peaceful coexistent indices of the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) which were prepared during , but no improved results occurred; 2) An area dimension which is at the macro and local levels; at the macro level, increasing emphasis on the agricultural sector resulted in a more positive social and environmental quality, while at the local level, the Sufficiency Economy Matrix (SEM) synthesizing from one community could be used in measuring the economic,

10 x BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING social and natural resource balance of communities and enable the upgrading of connection planning on a regional level. Although the road towards sustainable development is taking a long time as far as three decades on a global level or four decades for the development towards Thailand s Sufficiency Economy and is seemingly slow compared with the developments in the context of globalization, every effort to balance the economic development and social strengthening has however been obscured by Growth, Competitiveness, Economy and Speed, etc. However, The National Economic and Social Advisory Council sincerely hopes that this document will help trigger off the ideas for development and come up with guidelines for Balancing the Economic Growth and Social Strengthening in Asia and around the Globe. The National Economic and Social Advisory Council

11 Chapter 1 Concept about sustainable development Compiled by the Related Working Group of NESAC 1.1 Main stream about sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development emerged in the world community development in The United Nations (UN) Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment marked the first great international meeting on how human activities were harming the environment and putting humans at risk from the effects of wasteful use of resources over the limits of the world s resources. The results of these meetings drew the world's attention on environmental issues extensively. In 1983 the UN established the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) to study the balance between environment and development. They released Our Common Future, a report which called for a change of lavish lifestyles and a new way of developing. In an environmentally safe manner and in accordance with the limits of nature even more. They suggested ways for human ability to make development more sustainable. The United Nations provided a UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or the Earth Summit Conference which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992), Sustainable development was increasingly important. The results of this meeting, with representatives of 178 countries, including Thailand, voted to adopt Agenda 21, a master plan of the member countries which must be aware of environmental issues and the importance of environmental protection together to create sustainable development that takes place in the world. Structure and contents Section I: Social and Economic Dimensions Section II: Conservation and Management of Resources for Development Section III: Strengthening the Role of Major Groups

12 2 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING Section IV: Means of Implementation The various activities.associated with the balanced development of economic, social and environmental aspects.and to encourage many governments to create sustainable development strategies with a focus on economic development and social responsibility, in the meantime, to protect the resource base and the environment for the benefit of the next generation. This should allow the various groups which took part in the conference to lead to sustainable development. The Human Development Report 1996: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mentioned that the "quality" of economic growth is more important than the "quantity" of economic growth, the UNDP indicated the patterns of growth that damage countries in the long run as being of the following types. Jobless growth: the overall economy grows but does not expand opportunities for employment. Ruthless growth: the results of growth mostly benefit the rich only. Voiceless growth: growth in the economy has not been accompanied by an extension of democracy or empowerment. Rootless growth: Which causes people s cultural identity to wither. Futureless growth: the present generation exhausts the resources needed by future generations. The United Nations held a World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) or Earth Summit 2002 which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa on 26 August to 4 September 2002, which led to the obligations of Members of 180 countries, including Thailand, to continue the Agenda 21 for sustainable development to provide even more extensive and greater growth. The Member States will have reached an agreement in the preparation of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) together to be achieved by 2015 for sustainable development, in particular, operating in various fields, to enhance the quality of life and eradicate poverty. Member States should aim to promote Human Capacity Building, which includes the development of education and providing health services widely to the public. Building awareness, urging people around the world to recognize the importance of sustainable development. The government sector, private sector and civil society in each country should be a partnership for development and environmental protection together to achieve sustainable development.

13 Concept about sustainable development The definition of sustainable development. For more than two decades, the term Sustainable Development has been used extensively. To explain the meaning, relates to the future of human society and of the earth. But it is not clear what "Sustainable development" is and how it can lead to concrete action. One important cause is that neither the leaders or decisionmakers in society cannot push these ideas into action or create an index to measure sustainable development as well. They cannot monitor what activity is to be sustainable development or not to be sustainable development. There are many definitions of "Sustainable development" which are similar. The most famous is the definition of the World Commission on Environment and Development or the Brundtland (1983) in the report Our Common Future, which suggests that "Sustainable Development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". In 1987 The World Commission on Environment and Development recommended the following seven guidelines for a good quality of life for people around the world. I. Revive growth in economics, social society and the environment. II. Development of all of economic, social and environmental aspects. III. Meet essential needs and aspirations for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation. IV. Ensure a sustainable level of population V. Conserve and enhance the resource base. VI. Reorient technology and manage risks appropriately VII. Consider environmental and economic aspects in to decision making process. The concept of sustainable development has been branched and has evolved in several dimensions. It also has some features: Developing a stand on equity and fairness in interactions between policies and developing movements within and between countries.

14 4 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING Development by considering natural resources and environmental limitations, and the needs of today without adversely affecting future demands. Development by considering the holistic" approach, is to consider the impact on others, the development of this concept is based on prudence. And gradually allow for lateral development. Take part in the development process. Development by considering technology which should be used in the "creative" way and not in a destructive way. Development in the long term viewed under the Precautionary principle. In summary, then, the definition of sustainable development can be broken into three approaches. 1) The Ecology approach: Sustainable development priorities high in value of natural resources. By focusing on sustainability operation and efficiency of the ecosystem. Setting out to cause long term ecological sustainability, to deliver natural capital (natural resources) and man made capital (factors of production and products) to sustainable use for the next generation. 2) The Sociology approach: Sustainable development must be able to meet the basic needs of human beings continuously With regard to equality, the goal is to strive to maintain the quality of life of people with higher levels for a long time. 3) The Economics approach: Sustainable development means sustainable economic growth, based on conservation of natural capital to use for our generation and for the next generation. And it must involve restructuring of production and consumption, and developing technology to be environment friendly. 1.3 Developing a strategic concept In Thailand, there are many scholars who have explained the meaning of sustainable development. The key is the concept of the Buddhist doctrine. (P.A.Payutto) 1. He have explained about sustainable development that The integration of sustainable development is a holistic approach which combined all the related elements and other approach is one of balance, or in other words that human activity is consistent with the rules of nature. The development has to realize about human factors and add the cultural values in economics, social values 1

15 Concept about sustainable development 5 and also environmental activities. So, the Buddhist doctrine concept concludes that sustainable development has to realize all dimensions such as economics, social values, resources, environmental aspects, spiritual and cultural aspects, etc., with the goal of people centered development for good welfare and happiness of people in this generation and future generations. In addition, the proposal of Thailand to the world summit on sustainable development at Johannesburg, South Africa in April 2002, developed by the Committee pursuant to the Plan of Agenda 21 and sustainable development. The Thai committee had organized the summit in Thailand and cooperated with The Thailand Environment Institute in order to gather and brainstorm from various parties. The conclusion of the committee was that sustainable development in Thailand has to realize all dimensions in order to balance the fundamental resources and Thai culture by the participation of all citizens with respect to each other, their ability for self reliance and the quality of welfare. 1.4 The goal of sustainable development towards the Millennium development Goals (MDGs) In September 2000, there were representations from 189 countries in the millennium summit of the United Nations. After the summit, the committee made an agreement of the millennium declaration which declared an agenda in order to promote human development, to close the gap of development in the new century. The agreement of the millennium declaration is an origin of the objective of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Moreover, the committee was committed to the view that the target of development must determine a time frame and measurable results in order to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy, disease, inequality of sexes, degradation of resources and the environment. The main idea is to allocate responsibility between the developed and developing countries in order to achieve a common goal. The Millennium Development Goals have eight goals that the 189 United Nations Member countries (including Thailand) agreed to attempt to achieve by The eight goals are: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. 2) Achieve universal primary education. 3) Promote gender equality. 4) Reduce child mortality. 5) Improve maternal health. 6) Combat HIV / AIDS, Malaria and other diseases. 7) Ensure environmental sustainability. 8) Develop a Global Partnership for Development.

16 6 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING The eight goals and the objectives have set concrete measures to evaluate the implementation of the goals. The focus on poverty in various dimensions along with sustainable development is one aspect however, the indicators of the MDGs as an indicative measure is not indicative or directive, but the time frame of each operational target is planned to be achieved by Goals for Development of The Millennium goals in Thailand. Since September 2003 the Cabinet resolved to authorize the Office of National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) as central in the preparation of the report of the implementation of the MDGs by the NESDB report. The first edition in 2004, which proposed the development challenged the mind. For Thailand to achieve MDGs by implementing guidelines for these developments in this time frame consistent with the principles of sustainable development will be difficult and so to achieve its poverty, hunger and gender inequality. AIDS and malaria prevention and in achieving the goals of education will all be a significant task. The second report in 2009 showed that, compared to the 2004 report on the progress on some goals, such as labour, women and youth was valuable work. To ensure all children complete primary education by 2015 / graduating from high school by 2015, providing all people with access to reproductive health by 2015 and give priority to countries with less developed and co operate with pharmaceutical companies to provide developing countries with access to essential drugs. and progress on some goals, such as reducing by half poverty and the hunger in the years ,to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, to delay and reduce the spread of AIDS by 2015, to achieve conservation and management of environmental sustainability, will all be the focus of The 11th National Economic and Social Development Plan of Thailand in terms of ensuring economic and social security, and reducing inequality of opportunity and distribution of interest from developments. It will also provide a mechanism / tool to achieve the MDGs through synergizing by the operational units. 1.6 Towards MDG+ Thailand launched the MDG+ with a more consistent goal in the context of country development and challenging than the MDG. MDG+ represents the result based development approach and the idea of "we do" of Thailand in the development and the fight against poverty. For the MDG+ such as reducing poverty to less than 4 percent by 2009, all children graduate early high school in the year 2006, to increase the proportion of women in parliament, Subdistrict Administration Organization (SAO) and senior civil officer to be twice during , to reduce the rate of HIV infection in the reproductive age population for 1% by the year 2006.

17 Chapter 2 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy Compiled by the Related Academic Working Group of NESAC The philosophy of Sufficiency Economy is one of the Royal Initiatives of His Majesty the King by which he bestowed upon the Thai people since Such a philosophy was meant for the Thai people to reform and live in moderation, reasonableness and self awareness so it would be the guidance for sequential national development in a balanced and secure manner as indicated in the following King s Speech: National development has to be performed in a particular sequence. That is to build up the foundation in order to acquire the subsistence level of the majority of people through the employment of economical and careful but theoretically sound methods and instruments. Upon the secure foundation with sufficient preparedness and practicability, the progress and advanced economic status will be gradually built up in the next step. If the progress and economic status are growing rapidly without allowing the action plan to be in consistent with the situation of the country and of the people, an imbalance of various issues is hence likely to occur and become difficult and failed eventually. 2 Besides, the concept of the Sufficiency Economy has also existed in the implementation of various Royal Initiative Projects, as well as in the King s multifarious duties which he has performed as an example for the development of 2

18 8 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING subsistent to live and to eat of the people so as they will become steady, selfreliant and enter into sustainable well being. As a consequence, the Sufficiency Economy has long existed for over 30 years. Nevertheless, this concept has not been widely known until 1997 when Thailand encountered an economic crisis which stemmed from the imbalances of various aspects, over borrowing foreign loans and unreasonable implementation of economic policies. That was when money poured in and out freely, the government instead set up fixed exchange rates with the US dollar which made possible the easy profits from the differences of domestic and foreign interest rates on bringing in foreign loans; as well as carrying out high risk investments by transferring the investments between stock markets and assets without any productive outputs. Such incidents resulted in an economic crisis which ended up in the floating of the Thai baht, heavy foreign debt, the collapse of businesses and financial institutions; all of which affected the stability of the national economy. This particular failure partly stemmed from focusing on rapid economic growth only, causing the imbalances of various dimensions. His Majesty s Remarks about the Sufficiency Economy have therefore been used as the guidance for Thai people to understand the principle and methodology of practical livelihood and to cooperate in restoring the national economic situation. Such a principle has widely been accepted by Thai people so that the Sufficiency Economy began to be generally known since then as the Royal Remarks bestowed on His Majesty s Birthday of 1997 as follows: Being a tiger is not important, the importance is that we have a sufficiency economy, which means no dependence on others or self sufficiency. This selfsufficiency does not mean that every family must grow food for themselves, to make clothes for themselves; that is too much. But in a village or district there should be a reasonable amount of sufficiency. If they grow or produce something more than they need, they can sell them. Only if they could partly change to the sufficiency economy, not the whole lot or even half or just a quarter, they could still live. A change may need time since it is not easy, but if it is done right now, it is likely to change. 3 3 Ibid.

19 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy 9 Later, the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) invited resource persons from various fields to collectively compile and consider the Royal Remarks on the Sufficiency Economy on various occasions, as well as other related Remarks of His Majesty to publicize with the Royal Permission for the practical guidance of all sides and the people on 29 November Thus, the philosophy of a Sufficiency Economy is considered the principle of spiritual attachment for the livelihood, bestowed by His Majesty upon all levels and all walks of life, so as to ensure the promptness and better immunity for themselves and the country in order to reduce the risk or impact likely to occur from both internal and external factors. This philosophy in particular supports the stability of economic growth in a gradual manner more than the rapid economic growth without a solid foundation which may eventually end in failure. An emphasis has also been placed on the moral and ethical building in the Thai society by focusing on the unity of people and the sharing among them. Meanwhile, the awareness must be built up for the mutual coexistence between human beings and the nature and environment by practicing the principles of sufficiency, conservation and moderation in order to make the best of natural resources. There should not overuse or completely destroy them, but should restore and preserve them for the next generation in a sustainable manner. Throughout the recent periods of development approaches, natural resources were overused for unlimited economic development, resulting in unbalanced and unsustainable structuring problems which were likely to become much more complicated. As a result, the national development trends of the following periods had been focused on the building of the balanced and sustainable peaceful living in the society according to the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. The price of money has not been used as an index for the development success as had previously practiced, but the value of humanity and the people s spiritual happiness are the core values, especially in the initiative of the happiness by way of sufficiency without encroachment upon others and the public. That would create the life with balanced happiness and genuine happiness in the society. As from the Royal Speech concerning the Sufficiency Economy on the Occasion of His Majesty s Birthday in 1998, he added the meaning of sufficient because if we knew which point was enough, we would be satisfied. When we felt satisfied, we would be sufficient which led to giving. After learning to give, the sharing and helping each other would follow and gave rise to a peaceful society, strengthened community, potentiality and eventually stability and sustainability. Moreover, His Majesty the King delivered the Royal Speech on the Occasion of His Birthday in 2000 in relation to happiness as follows:

20 10 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING in 1974 on that day I said that we should earn sufficient to eat which means the Sufficiency Economy. It would be satisfied if each individual has sufficient to eat, and if the country has sufficient to eat, it in fact means the Sufficiency Economy I would like to emphasize that this Sufficiency Economy is for both economy and conduct which gives rise to results. There are both the cause and result by which the result comes from the cause that if the cause is good and the result is the thing following the cause, the action will be the good action and the result of such action will be the good deed. The goodness means the effectiveness, the goodness means the usefulness, the goodness means making us happy. All of these are indeed the Sufficiency Economy and are translated as a self sufficiency economy. While many people said that there was no sufficiency economic, but it could be our new wording that means economical, not stingy and in any relationship, we have to make compromises and do anything with reasonableness. This will be the Sufficiency Economy that makes everybody happy. 4 In the later period of the preparation for the Ninth and Tenth National Economic and Social Development Plans, the National Economic and Social Development Board introduced the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy as the guiding principle in formulating various policies, plans and measures for the implementation of all sides and the public. All of these should be based on the moderation, reasonableness and considerable immunity, as well as holding on to the middle path without encroachment upon others, including putting an emphasis on the public benefits. In the meantime, there should be the awareness raising for all walks of life in terms of virtuousness and ethics alongside the building of intelligence and wisdom in order to gain the immunity against the global trends and be prepared for the upcoming changes; all of which will lead to livelihood under balanced development as well as stable and sustainable happiness. Sufficiency Economy is therefore considered a new concept which gives rise to a paradigm shift for the significant national development. Such a concept has as well been accepted by both Thai and foreign people as shown in an example of the 4 Ibid.

21 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy 11 admiration and the realization of the development vision of His Majesty the King that the United Nations (UN) has announced that he is the World s Development King and presented him with the Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, that made all Thai citizens delighted beyond compare. 2.1 The Concept and Philosophy of a Sufficiency Economy 5 1) The Conceptual Framework of a Sufficiency Economy is the philosophy which guides the way of life and conduct of people as they should be, on the basis of the traditional way of life in the Thai society which could always be applied for use. It views the world as such a dynamic system looking for a way to escape disasters and crises and reaching a stable and sustainable development or as it is called a balanced and sustainable development ready for the economic, social, environmental, knowledge and technological changes. 2) The Development Principle according to the Sufficiency Economy Concept is the development based on the middle path and awareness; taking account of the moderation, reasonableness and considerable immunity building as well as the use of knowledge, attentiveness and virtuousness in the planning, decision making and the action taken. 3) Characteristics The Sufficiency Economy could be applied to all levels of practice by laying an emphasis on the middle path and step by step development. Definition of the sufficiency should comprise 3 key characteristics as follows; (1) Moderation means enough, not too little and not too much; not overstepping oneself and others, (2) Reasonableness means the decision making on the sufficiency level must be reasonable by taking concerned factors and most likely outcomes from such actions into consideration, (3) Considerable Immunity means the preparedness to cope with the most likely impact and changes in various aspects by taking account of the possibilities of upcoming situations in the near and distant future. 4) Conditions Decision making and the execution of activities under the sufficiency level have to be based on knowledge and virtuousness as follows: 5

22 12 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING (1) Knowledge consists of the facts about all aspects of technology, attentiveness to connect them for support for planning and careful action, (2) Virtuousness consists of the awareness in virtuousness, honesty, forbearance and perseverance, the use of intelligence in livelihood without greed and stinginess. The Sufficiency Economy The Sufficiency Economy is the philosophy which His Majesty the King gave in a speech to guide the way of life for Thai people for over 30 years before the development of an economic crisis. After the crisis, he placed an emphasis on the solution guidelines to survive and exist in a stable and sustainable manner under globalization and numerous changes. Philosophy of The Sufficiency Economy The Sufficiency Economy: is a philosophy that stresses the middle path as the overriding principle for appropriate conduct and way of life of the entire populace. It applies to conduct and the way of life at individual, family and community levels. At the national level, the philosophy is consistent with a balanced development strategy that would reduce the vulnerability of the nation to shocks and excesses that may arise as a result of globalization. Sufficiency means moderation and due consideration in all modes of conduct and incorporates the need for sufficient protection from internal and external shocks. To achieve this, the prudent application of knowledge is essential. In particular, great care is needed in the application of theories and technical know how and in planning and implementation. At the same time, it is essential to strengthen the moral fiber of the nation so that everyone, particularly public officials, academics, business people and financiers adhere first and foremost to the principles of honesty.

23 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy 13 Significant Chronological Order of the Development of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy Could Be Summarized as Follows: 1974 : Granting the concept concerning the sufficiency to live and to eat as well as the step by step development from the basis 1995 : Explaining and experimenting with the new theory in the agricultural system for the resource balance, risk reduction and resolving of poverty 1997 : Summarizing the concept of the Sufficiency Economy philosophy with emphasis on self reliance along the middle path, not to an extreme 1999 : Granting Royal Permission to publicize a one page Sufficiency Economy philosophy 2004 : NESDB concluded and disseminated the philosophy s intent with emphasis on the optimization, reasonableness and self immunity 2006 : The United Nations (UN) presented His Majesty with the Human Development Lifetime Achievement Award on His Sixtieth Birthday 2007 : The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published a report on the Sufficiency Economy and Human Development 2.2 Adjustment of the National Development Trends to The Sufficiency Economy The determination of Thailand s development approaches over the past 40 years were largely focused on leading the country to prosperity and modernization, especially the use of an economic index in terms of monetary income or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as an instrument to measure success and failure of the overall national development. This implied that if the country constantly manufactured more products and services within one year, the people in general would be richer. But on looking more closely, a part of the GDP was the value of

24 14 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING expenditures and losses in various aspects, e.g. health, education, crime, accidents, including social problems and family feuds as well as the destruction and overuse of natural resources without morality and ethics. Such things gave rise to suffering despite the increased GDP, while it was no guarantee for the increased happiness of society members. When considering the aspect of the Sufficiency Economy, national development which held on to economic growth and monetary and material wealth were considered a failure as His Majesty the King had in advance warned us 23 years prior to the 1997 economic crisis in 1974 as mentioned earlier. Despite promising economic growth, income was not well distributed to the poor since there was a significant difference and disparity of income among Thai people, along with insolvency at both individual and national levels due to the insufficiency or lack of moderation for increasing wants beyond limits that led to the severe impact on the whole society. A concrete setback was the 1997 economic crisis which resulted in a recession situation for entrepreneurs so that some of them went bankrupt and eventually went out of business. At the same time, the agricultural sector was less affected, particularly in the case of farmers who did not depend on the market situation, but primarily stressed the production for household consumption and selling the surplus. Those included the groupings for diverse economic activities aiming at income supplements and reduction of superfluous costs to ensure selfreliance and took steps to become a strong network. Such activities definitely gave rise to the stability of the overall economic growth of the country, especially the sufficient or optimized way of life which enabled sustainable and maximum benefits of natural resource use. Since the intent of The Sufficiency Economy philosophy is not only the implementation principle for coexistence among human beings, but also between human beings and the nature in a supporting and balanced manner. However, after the 1997 economic crisis, the trends of national development were reviewed and revised to a new paradigm which actually began since the eighth NESDP ( ) that human beings became a center of development more than focusing only on the building of economic growth, which was the reason for the imbalance of development as concluded from lessons learnt that a good economy, a troubled society, unsustainable development. As a result, the eighth NESDP was a significant turning point to lay an emphasis on the national development of various dimensions in a comprehensive and balanced manner. These were carried out by changing the reductionism development to a holistic integration, as well as allowing all sides of society to take part in every step of development that gave rise to the widely strengthening process for various levels of communities and civil society networks. Particularly the introduction of social capital was seen as a basis for development which could alleviate the severe economic crisis so that many

25 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy 15 communities could survive from the debt crisis and recover from their suffering to live strongly and sufficiently. In the later period, the Ninth NESDP ( ) and the Tenth NESDP ( ) introduced the Sufficiency Economy philosophy to be officially used with the Royal Permission from His Majesty the King for publicity as guidance for livelihood at the levels of the individual, household, community and national society. Such a philosophy was based on the optimization, reasonableness and self immunity under important conditions which were virtuousness and knowledge. Both of which would play important roles in the building of ethics and virtuousness oriented conduct of individuals; equipping them with immunity against various changes of globalization in a knowing and supporting manner in order to move to a knowledge based society steadily and happily. These reflected on the development of changes in each period of applying the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy into various levels of practice following His Majesty s Remarks on Sufficiency Economy on 4 December 1997 onwards. 2.3 The Tenth National Economic and Social Development Plan ( ) In the Tenth NESDP ( ), the emphasis was placed on the introduction of the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy to seriously execute as guidance for national development by stressing that virtuousness leads to economic development in a free market system, in order to strengthen an awareness of unity and sharing in all levels of people from the household, community, society and for the country, including the strengthening of fraud detection and virtuousness systems. In the meantime, the strengthening of a peaceful society had to be carried out according to the Tenth NESDP. The revised trends of the country in the Tenth NESDP ( ) focused on development goals leading towards wealth, stability and sustainability which continued to apply the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy as the guidance for national development and administration. The balance of development would be found in every dimension by taking the changing of the development context in all aspects into consideration, which would affect both the opportunities and constraints of national development. More importantly, there would be a grouping of the world economy and finance, the leapfrogging of technological changes, knowledge based development and the continuous maintenance of economic stability, meantime, the natural resources and environment had largely deteriorated and global warming is a threat to biodiversity, including the environmental threat to humanity. As such, the Tenth NESDP hence sets out the main objectives of national development for years ahead by heading towards a Green and Happiness Society and adhering to the Sufficiency Economy philosophy in the development

26 16 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING process of holistic integration that a human being is the center of development and should be based on reasonable moderation, building intelligence and wisdom alongside virtuousness and ethics so as to have considerable immunity against change. Development objectives comprised (2.1) developing the quality of citizens to be knowledgeable alongside virtuousness and be ready for changer, (2.2) strengthening the equality and strength of society, (2.3) reforming the economic structure so as to be powerful, stable and equitable, (2.4) developing the national administrative system for good governance at every level and based on the peaceful participation as well as heading towards the knowledge society. All of which would be performed by strategic planning for adjusting to know oneself, know all aspects and know about the world. In addition, an emphasis was laid on Value Creation of products so as to enable competition in the world forum, including the development of science and technologies to support the way of life in a competitive and sufficiency economy. At the same time, the roles of organizations, communities, and societies would be promoted to take part in society development, especially the acceleration to resolve poverty by reducing costs and increasing incomes. 2.4 The Eleventh National Economic and Social Development Plan ( ) National development during the Eleventh NESDP has realized the situation and risks due to international and domestic changes, particularly the economic, energy and climatic volatility which occurs rapidly and evidently has both positive and negative impacts on Thailand. As such, the trends of national administration under the Sufficiency Economy philosophy for coping with such changes have been considered as existing advantages and as having potential to benefit national development in terms of economic strength and stability. This will be achieved by focusing on the development of the internal economy to ensure the strength of the agricultural production base and the manufacturing of small and medium enterprises. Meanwhile, Thailand has to adapt itself to link with the world and regional economic systems, which we are committed to under various cooperative frameworks, so that we can use such opportunities and increase immunity for domestic capital appropriately and are ready to enter the ASEAN Economic Community in At the same time, we have to be prepared for the physical linkage of infrastructure, systems, and logistics alongside the upgrading of human quality, building up a knowledge body, development of sciences, technologies, innovations and creative thinking so as to be the driving force for Thai economic and social development. The determination of trends for national development during the Eleventh NESDP is thus to build immunity in various dimensions for the purpose of the balanced and sustainable development of the country. This can be achieved by

27 The Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy 17 making use of the country s potential capital in an integrated and supporting manner, including strengthening them to be the key development foundation of the country, i.e. the strengthening of social capital (human, social and cultural capital); putting an emphasis on the development of human beings and Thai society to be a quality society; aiming at building immunity at individual, household and community levels; being capable of risk management; adapting oneself to changes; having opportunity to access resources and obtaining fair benefits from economic and social development. In the case of strengthening economic capital (physical and financial capital, the purposes are to strengthen national economic development by applying the wisdom of science and technologies as well as creative thinking; focusing on the restructuring of trade and investment to be consistent with the requirements of domestic and external markets; focusing on environmentally friendly production, including creating connections between countries in other regions on the basis of interdependence. In the case of strengthening natural resources and environment capital, emphases has been placed on the building of food security, management of natural resources and environment as the agricultural production base, heading towards a low carbon and environmentally friendly economy and society, being prepared for coping with changes of climate and natural disasters, including the building of trading immunity against environmental conditions alongside the increasing of the Thai role in the world community. In the meantime, there must be a national administration to create fairness in the society, emphases must also be laid on the development of an official system and government officials under good governance, increasing the efficiency of devolution for local administrative organizations, developing participating systems and mechanisms for the protection and suppression of fraud and misconduct, promoting all walks of life to equally access the justice procedure as well as creating fairness in accessing resources alongside the raising of awareness, democratic values and good governance for all groups of people. 2.5 Philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy in the International Wisdom Philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy has also been considered by experts, think tanks, practitioners and the world s leading scholars in particular, in order to apply it to international development, not only in Thailand, but also including other developing countries searching for survival amid global trends. The philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy has as well being assessed alongside the development theories employed in various countries.

28 18 BALANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL STRENGTHENING Professor AmartyaSen, a Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics gave a lecture on Capability and Development in the Contemporary World chaired by HRH Princess MahaChakriSirindhorn at the Opening Ceremony of the International Workshop and Conference on Alternative Development in July 2007 in Bangkok. From this lecture it could be concluded that the development of the quality of life and economic development are indeed related with an emphases on diversity and facts, which conform to the requests from Thai people in adhering to the Sufficiency Economy principle; human development aimed at happiness must be focused on human life and freedom to choose more than focusing only on theories. The Capability Approach Theory requires the sufficiency concept to evaluate the impact on human capability, since the sufficiency concept emphasizes the building of the capabilities of various groups, including disadvantaged groups, unlike existing development theories which focus only on the income factors or the Gross National Product (GNP). A Comparative Table between Sustainable Development Indices and the Conceptual Framework Indicators of Sustainable Development Human Development Index: HDI Millennium Development Goals: MDGs Conceptual Framework The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has an idea for the human development under 3 core dimensions: health, education and economy in the hope of expanding the national development concept and comparing the levels of development without focusing only on income generation. The United Nations (UN) organized the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000 which was the new millennium year. There were reviews and exchanges of experience on past developments of each country, including laying down the MDGs by 2015 and focusing on the achievements and ability to evaluate while fighting against: - Extreme poverty, - Hunger, - Illiteracy, - Diseases,