Neoliberal policy reforms and governance during the military era in Thailand

: A Case Study of the Medical Tourism Policy.

Abstract

This thesis examines how neoliberal reforms have influenced the Thai governance during the era of authoritarian military government between 2014 and 2023. It focuses on the implementation of medical tourism policy in Thailand as an example of the kind of neoliberal-led policy. The study draws upon literatures on governance and the policy process, largely evolved from experiences of developed countries. Taking the notion of the five-stream policy process framework (Howlett, 2018) as its starting point, the study analyses the governance configurations and power dynamics between the actors in the making and the implementation of the medical tourism policy at the central and at the provincial (Chiang Mai province) levels. Its main methods are policy document review and semi-structured interviews with key policy actors at both levels.

This study finds that in the military government era there was the triangle of power showing how authority was concentrated in the hands of the central elites which were the military government, the bureaucrats, and the business elites. It demonstrates that the ruling elites at the central level did not truly embrace neoliberalism, but rather adopted neoliberal reforms selectively to serve their political preferences. However, the research illustrates the multi-centres of power at different levels which affirms the need to shift the academic focus from the central elites to the regional and provincial perspectives in the governance studies. This study argues that governance theories grounded on the elites at the centre, developed in what problematically may be called ‘the Global North’ cannot fully capture the governance picture in Thailand, a developing Southeast Asian economy. In contrast, the decentred governance analysis may effectively be applied in the developing countries, where the socio-political backgrounds differ significantly from that of the developed economies where the centralised academic approach was initiated.

Date of Award	24 Oct 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Karen West (Supervisor) & Misa Izuhara (Supervisor)