This paper contributes to the development of a more "political" comparative urban sociology by focusing on the role of intergroup power relationships in the creation and maintenance of regional/spatial inequalities in Thailand. In asserting that primate city parasitism is best understood in terms of an "internal colonial" analogy, it is suggested that the study of the urban bases of spatial inequality should focus on the phenomena of exploitative and/or neglectful policy-making, the intergroup power exchanges behind policy decisions, and the role of extranational forces in determining such intranational politics. This perspective is applied to an analysis of Thai policy-making between 1850 and 1900.
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