The Concept
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej developed the philosophy of the Sufficiency Economy to lead his people to a balanced way of life and to be the main sustainable development theory for the country. The theory is based upon a Middle Path between society at the local level and the market in the global context. By highlighting a balanced approach, the philosophy allows the nation to modernize without resisting globalization, but provides a means to counteract negative outcomes from rapid economic and cultural transitions. The Sufficiency Economy became critical during the economic crisis in 1997, in which Thailand needed to maintain stability to persist on self-reliance and develop important policies to recover. By creating a self-supporting economy, Thai citizens will have what they need to survive but not excess, which would turn into waste.
His Majesty proposed that it was not important for Thailand to remain an “economic tiger,” or become characterized as a newly industrialized country. Instead, His Majesty explained that sufficiency is living in moderation and being self-reliant in order to protect against changes that could destabilize the country. The Sufficiency Economy is believed to adapt well within existing social and cultural structures in a given community, if the following two factors are met:
• subsistence production with equitable linkage between production/consumption
• the community has the potential to manage its own resources
As a result, the Sufficiency Economy should enable the community to maintain adequate population size, enable proper technology usage, preserve the richness of the ecosystems and survive without the necessity of intervention from external factors. The concept is now commonly included in many government projects.