Movement, Countermovement, and Regionalization of Capital: The Dynamics of Land Relations in Thailand

Thailand stands out in the Mekong region as the country whose economy has most continuously pursued market-based development and followed a capitalist path of economic growth that is externally oriented through trade and investment. Agriculture in Thailand has been oriented toward export-led production since the 1855 Bowring Treaty with Britain that liberalized the external trade of Siam (as the country was known until 1939). Unlike its regional neighbors, Thailand has not experimented with socialist economic models, associated collectivization of land, or partial closure to trade and investment with market economies. Nor has the country gone through the ravages of geopolitical