M. R. Kukrit Pramoj's theory of good governance and political change: the dialectics of Farang Sakdina

M. R. Kukrit Pramoj wrote Farang Sakdina in 1957–1958 as both a theoretical critique of western development planners and Marxist critics of Thai society such as Jit Phoumisak. He argued that both camps relied on European examples to prescribe policies for Thailand—Americans on modernization theory and Soviets on Marx’s historical materialism—despite crucial differences between European feudalism and the Thai system of sakdina. A textual analysis of Farang Sakdina reveals Kukrit’s dialectical theory of historical change in which social “contradictions” are continually resolved and reconstituted. He uses this lens to analyze politics and kingship in England, Thailand, and, implicitly, other countries.

Tony Waters