Royal Public Administration and Development of Thailand

Abstract

his study employed the qualitative methods in which data were collected through a review of related documents and an interview with key informants.  The objectives of this study were to 1) investigate the definitions of the ‘royal public administration’ and its relationship with the public administration, 2) study the application of the ‘royal public administration’ in Thai contexts, and 3) study the relationship between the ‘royal public administration’ and public trust and loyalty. The research method was used a qualitative study. From the literature review and interviewing stakeholders, analyzing and presenting descriptive results. 

The results showed that the king had implemented the ‘royal public administration’ to develop the country as well as to solve his subjects’ problems. This concept referred to the royal initiative projects brought into action by the government, state agencies, and private organizations. The term also referred to the budget and manpower support from the government sector and the army as well as the donation from the private sector, citizens, and the king himself. Furthermore, the king had publicly introduced the philosophy and established numerous royal initiative projects inspired by his visits to many areas in the country as well as his realization of the problems. The philosophy and the royal initiative projects could evidently lift the people out of poverty and improve their living quality. When the combination of ‘royal public administration’ and the public administration was implemented, it was found that the public trust in such administration was high since people truly believed that the ‘royal public administration’ would really benefit the country and the people despite some arguments concerning the operation of the royal initiative projects. To summarize, this study seeks to discover the forms and definitions of the term which could be a concept and theory for national development.