laid the basis for the rapid expansion of export-orientated
manufacturing and the international conditions, which from the mid-1980s
were conducive to such development. Similarly, the unusual features of
Thailand’s development are ignored, notably, the low level of urbanisation,
the markedly uneven spatial pattern of economic activity, the comparative
abundance of agricultural land and the Kingdom’s highly distinctive noncolonial mode of incorporation into the global economy from the midnineteenth century.
The euphoria which has surrounded the recent rapid growth of the Thai
economy has also tended to obscure the impact of the rapid change in the
Kingdom’s society and environment, and the degree to which internal and
external developments are raising question marks over the long-term
sustainability of the Kingdom’s growth. It is the intention of this book to put
the recent growth in perspective through an examination of the Kingdom’s
historical and contemporary patterns of development, and the changing nature
of the interaction with the wider Asian and international economies. Quite
simply it is intended to get behind the ‘hype and myth’ and to place
Thailand’s recent rapid economic growth in perspective.
Economic growth and structural change