Thai Public Administration Towards Sustainable Development

Abstract

This article presents research that aims to refine a model of Thai public administration based on the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy driving towards sustainable development and to compare the implementation of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP), the National Strategy in Government efficiency and better access to public services, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implemented in Thai government agencies. The research adopts content analysis to analyze interview data collected from 15 departments/offices management under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives using semi-structured interviews, and secondary data collected from other related research studies. The results reveal that there are two major issues to be revised in the SEP model; i.e., developing resilience competence and societal citizenship behavior for officers, and promoting people engagement in society development. Implementing public administration based on the SEP plays a key role in moving Thailand towards sustainable development. The analysis reveals that the goals and indicators within the national strategy generally fall into the entry-level, called partial practice level, in the Sufficiency Economy (SE) model, which reflects the method of practice. The comparison between the SE model and the UN’s SDGs reveals that the SDGs focus on the indicators of the process, which are driving mechanisms toward the SDGs. However, all three frameworks confirm that sustainable development must be addressed from the foundation with consideration given to surrounding dimensions within the context. In addition, sustainable development also requires collaboration among stakeholders, and human development is needed as the basis. By this, digital technology is one of the key components of driving toward sustainable development.