King Chulalongkorn (Rama V, 1868-1910) is
given credit for preventing the colonization of Thailand,
for establishing its modern civil service, and for
abolishing slavery. He also introduced cabinet
government and created a standing army. During this
period, free-trade policies promoted the expansion of
agricultural exports but did not produce rapid economic
growth, and there was virtually no structural change
(Warr and Bhanupong 1996, 9). Agricultural exports
were the main source of both foreign exchange and
government revenue. Agricultural growth was not driven
by improved productivity but by expansion of the area
of land under cultivation (Ammar, Suthad, and Direk
1993 in Warr and Bhanupong 1996, 9). Land remained
abundant until the 1960s. Those reforms and the
country’s pragmatism helped to preserve Thailand’s
independence: in 1917 the Kingdom entered the First
World War on the side of the allies, while in the Second
World War it sided with Japan.