Culture and Communication in Thailand (Communication, Culture and Change in Asia)

(Michael S) #1

developing worlds still do. Developed countries, under the disguise of globaliza-
tion, turn the exploitation sites to developing countries. Thinking that what happens
in one country will never have any impact to one’s own has been proven to be not
true. It is becoming abundantly clear that all man-made disasters affect people in the
entire world. If the modernization paradigm, that has been the driving force for
economic globalization for decades, has serious pitfalls, as stated above, what is our
alternative?
Antidotes of the modernization paradigm are the dependency and multiplicity
paradigms. While the dependency paradigm blames the external forces only about
what went wrong in the developing countries, the multiplicity paradigm is an
alternative framework that meets the demands for sustainable development.


6.3 The Multiplicity Paradigm..............................


Keywords of this paradigm are interdependency, multidimensional development,
respect of culture, satisfying basic needs, start from within a society or endogeny,
self-reliance, ecological soundness, sustainability, participatory democracy, and
structural and sustainable social change required. One can see that this paradigm
covers all of the components needed for sustainable development. When we see that
everything is interrelated, or in other words holistic, we can see many ways to
achieve the same result. What constraints the way we choose can be a different
context and culture of that society. We cannot just borrow the model that works in a
Western country and use it without adapting it to our local context. This paradigm is
close to the Buddhist way that sees that we have to be a part of nature and should
live in harmony with nature.
Self-reliance in this paradigm, as defined by Servaes ( 1999 : 79), is the ability to
rely on strength and resources of a society with regard to its members’energies and
its natural and cultural contexts. Sustainability, according to Servaes ( 1999 : 79), is
the interdependency of biosphere and ecosystems in a short, medium, and long term
within local, national, or transnational levels.


6.4 King Bhumibol’s Economic Sufficiency....................


The multiplicity paradigm is very much in line with King Bhumibol’s Sufficient
Economy Paradigm. King Bhumibol’s paradigm is more practical and focused on
Thailand, which is a tropical country. It is very suitable for the climate of Thailand as
it has sunshine all year round. The land is fertile, and Thailand is in fact the bed of
fresh foods for the world. The sufficient economy paradigm is therefore a new way of
thinking and managing land by networking and cultivating human resources (a
recent but rather a critical overview is available from Avery and Bergsteiner 2016 ).


6.2 Globalization and Sustainable Development 93


http://www.ebook3000.com

Free download pdf