Thailand

Though benefiting from the end of the second Indochina War and the cessation of the US bombing campaigns that had involved Thailand in the 1960s and early 1970s, the communist victories of 1975 in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos set off a wave of anticommunist action by the ruling military-led coalition government that led to multiple bloody encounters between the army and civilians in the late 1970s. In 1980, however, General Prem Tinsulanonda, a committed royalist with a reputation for incorruptibility, assumed control of the government. With the support of the hugely popular king Bhumibol, he instituted a period of rapid economic growth and comparative political liberalism that lasted throughout the 1980s. Prem, and Thailand as a whole, were also the beneficiaries of the accelerating economic revolution which was taking place throughout Southeast Asia after the recession of the mid-1970s. This helped the country maintain a world-leading 12.4% average yearly growth rate between 1985 and 1996.

For the first time, Thailand became a significant regional industrial power, and the manufacture of goods such as computer parts, textiles and footwear overtook raw materials and rice as Thailand’s leading exports. With the end of the Indochina wars and most domestic insurgency, tourism developed rapidly and became a major earner. The urban population continued to grow rapidly, but overall population growth began to decline. This led to a rise in living standards even in rural areas, although Isaan continued to lag behind. With the end of Prem’s tenure in 1988, rival military factions again began competing for power, and public hostility to military rule and corruption led the capital back into the chaos it had seen in the 1970s.

Outside of Bangkok, economic development, government social policies and radically improved infrastructure led to much the same kind of social and cultural integration seen in Indonesia and Malaysia, with a couple of important differences—while ethnic Tai and Chinese-Tai remained the overwhelming majority, the continuing influx of large numbers of refugees from Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam helped to ensure the continuing influence of greater Southeast Asia on Thai society and culture.