Sufficiency Economy Philosophy: Conceptual Background & Introduction

Abstract

Introduced over the backdrop of collective humanity’s semi-conscious march towards unsustainable future by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY PHILOSOPHY (SEP) posits an alternative path. In a SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY, economic drives & decisions, processes & institutions, systems & dynamics are grounded upon the triple intersecting imperatives of MODERATION, REASONABLENESS and IMMUNITY. Here, MODERATION may be thought of as a pragmatic embodiment of ‘middle-path’ thinking, REASONABLENESS embeds the very notion of causality or causal connection between actions and consequences, intended or otherwise, and IMMUNITY underlines the recognition that risks, financial or otherwise, often times cannot be managed exogenously, and that resilience is a goal as much as it is an outcome. Moreover, SEP insists on PRUDENCE vis-a-vis the application of knowledge to the planning and execution of enterprises, concomitant with INTEGRITY instilled and reinforced as moral foundation of the nation, as the paired requisite conditions by which such a SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY may achieve balanced prosperity, as well as be prepared for rapid material, social, environmental and cultural changes taking places globally. This chapter introduces the readers to the fundamental concepts and principles of SEP and so serves as definitive references for the chapters that follow in this volume.