Sufficiency Economy and Backdated Claims of its Application: Phooyai (Headman) Wiboon’s Agroforestry and Self-narrative

Abstract

The King of Thailand’s Sufficiency Economy (SE) has been heralded and influential in Thailand. It was also featured in the United Nations Development Programme Thailand Human Development Report 2007. Reports and personal stories of applying the SE are widely available. A striking remark is that many of these claims were backdated. Projects, activities, and practice claimed to be its implementation predated the SE in its present form. As the SE is caught in political struggles, this is perceived to reveal propaganda. In this article, through a case of Phooyai Wiboon’s agroforestry, the act of backdating the claims is analyzed and re-interpreted with help of Ricoeur’s concept of narrative time.

Keywords

Sufficiency Economy sustainable development agroforestry self-narrative narrative time hermeneutics

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