SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt
SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt
SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt
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196<br />
The Meaning of Sufficiency Economy <br />
International Conference<br />
nation, especially state officials, scholars, and business people at all levels, so they<br />
are conscious of moral integrity and honesty and they strive for the appropriate<br />
wisdom to live life with forbearance, diligence, self-awareness, intelligence, and<br />
attentiveness. In this way we can hope to maintain balance and be ready to cope with<br />
rapid physical, social, environmental, and cultural changes from the outside world.”<br />
NithiEawsriwong, one of the most influential Thai social scientists, concluded<br />
the ultimate goal of Sufficiency Economy was to establish the security of the four<br />
life essences and sustainability (the four life essences included food, clothing,<br />
accommodation, and medicine). This ideology is also the social goal of other<br />
economic philosophies. However, while communism suggested that the security of<br />
four life essences could be established by the state, and capitalism assigned this task<br />
to the mechanism of the free market, the sufficiency economy required the<br />
cooperation among people, community and the state. Unlike the other perspectives<br />
that considered the sufficiency economy as mere agricultural technique or even a set<br />
of financial ethics, Nithi proposed sufficiency economy as a culture. He argued that<br />
the sufficiency economy is the opposite of individualism; it required the<br />
interconnectedness between people and their ecosystem. He asserted that strong<br />
social/community bonds, the social capital, was the key element for achieving the<br />
sufficiency economy (นิธิ เอียวศรีวงศ์ 2543).<br />
The Inpaeng network is another outstanding example of how Isaan people<br />
adjusted themselves in order to cope with the modern constraint. In short, Inpaeng is<br />
the name of a non-profit network that aims to promote a self-reliant lifestyle for<br />
people living around the Phuphan mountain range at the middle of the Isaan area.<br />
One of the Inpaeng’s main strategies was to utilise the unique Thai social capital<br />
acquired from the communities. This research study will explore Thai social capital<br />
according to Inpaeng context.<br />
Method<br />
This study observed social activities and interviewed some key informants<br />
between January and June 2008. Two groups of informants were acquired. The first<br />
group of informants wereInpaeng leaders who involved in Inpaeng network<br />
administration, training course, forest protection, community financial management<br />
and community business. Informants who were Inpaeng members with no<br />
administrative work were categorised into the second group. They were members<br />
who adopted the Inpaeng lifestyle. These informants were the living evidence<br />
confirming that living according to Inpaeng concept could be fruitful. All informants<br />
were informed about the research project before the interview took place and were<br />
asked verbally for the audio recording consent. Most of the observations and<br />
interviews took place in the Inpaengcentre, Kudbak district, Sakonnakhon province,<br />
seven hundred kilometers from Bangkok. The Inpaengcentre is the training venue<br />
and the administrative office of the Inpaeng network. Social events such as Inpaeng<br />
administrative meetings, staff meetings, informal meetings and network conferences<br />
also take place at the Inpaengcentre. However, some social events were observed