Multi-Power Interaction in ‘Border Area’: Trades and Commoners in the Northern Principalities and a Formation of the Siam’s Modern State

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Nattaphong Sakul-leaw

Abstract

In the early Rattanakosin era, Northern Principalities were a broad border area that Bangkok seconded to police and control the commoners (phrai) not to escape from Siam’s grips. Foreigners that coming to Siam with the purpose of trade were allowed to conduct their business exchanges only within specific border principalities. The situation, however was changed after Siam signed the Bowring Treaty in 1855, obliging Siam to grant extraterritorial rights to foreign aliens and allow these merchants to trade freely in any areas of their wishes. Northern Principalities then became a trade entroport of Thai, Chinese and the British subjects that were frequently travelling to trade in the area. Due to such context, Northern Principalities were a place of interactions, conflicts, and negotiations among commoners of various groups and statuses, for instance the network of powerful local governors and local authorities, authorized tax agencies, and foreigners particularly, the Chinese and the Karen (Tong-su) registered as the British subjects, including commoners who were not affiliated with the Sakdina system and started a small-scale trading of their own.


Conflicts among various groups with multi-status in the commercial space had made the local administration of Sakdina system weakened and lack of efficiency. Local authorities could not handle this problem and tended to violate the law by themselves; at last, they were unable to cope with any conflicts. Commoners, thus, questioned about the existing administrative structure and mechanism and increasingly called for the power of central government under the authority of the Bangkok court to wrestle with these conflicts by enforcing the civil and criminal regulations. The calling of commoners did, in fact, correspond with the demand of the Bangkok court in replacing local authorities with a “modern” bureaucracy. By that perspective, the establishment of modern bureaucracy that finally institutionalizing the absolute monarchy was not only far-sightedly led by nobles and elites in Bangkok, but the modern state of Siam was formulated from below by a social power of the commoners. Without the calling of these commoners, modern state and its bureaucracy could not be easily established.

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How to Cite
Sakul-leaw, N. (2019). Multi-Power Interaction in ‘Border Area’: Trades and Commoners in the Northern Principalities and a Formation of the Siam’s Modern State. Journal of Social Sciences Naresuan University, 15(1), 15_139–154. Retrieved from https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jssnu/article/view/201357
Section
Review Paper
Author Biography

Nattaphong Sakul-leaw

Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Naresuan University

References

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