The Cultural Mandates or State Decrees were a series of 12 edicts issued between 1939 and 1942 by the government of Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram during his first period as Prime Minister and military dictator of Thailand. The mandates aimed to create a uniform and "civilized" Thai culture at the time when the country was on the side of the Axis powers. Many of the practices initiated in the mandates were a result of Thailand entering World War II and remain in effect today.