SUFFiciENcy EcONOMy ANd GRASSROOtS DEvElOPMENt

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