From: Pacific Affairs | Date: December 22, 2001| Author: Kesboonchoo-Mead, Kullada | COPYRIGHT 2001 University of British Columbia. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

CULTURE AND POWER IN TRADITIONAL SIAMESE GOVERNMENT. By Neil A. Englehart. Ithaca (New York): Southeast Asia Program Publications. 2000. 130 pp. US$14.00, paper: ISBN 0-87727-135-6.

This book introduces a very important and largely neglected aspect of Thai studies, that of culture and power. It further elaborates on the concept of patron-client relationships studied by Akin and shows how the Thai state functioned at different levels.

Contrary to orthodoxy, the...