The Levels of Peace in Thai Society from the Past, Present, to the Future: Under the Survey of Thai Peace Index

Abstract

The measurement of the levels of peace in Thai society has been influenced by the global peace measurement called the Global Peace Index (GPI), which has been undertaken constantly and systematically for decades. The work on a global scale refers to the comparison of the peace levels amongst countries in order to learn about each country’s peace rankings and, as a result, leading to a positive impact on fostering world peace. However, the global scale effort may lack the depth of data in each area and the data may not be collected at the regional or provincial level; therefore, the measurement of the levels of peace in Thai society was established, and could be divided into 3 periods as follows:

1) The initial period or the pioneering stage, which lasted from October 1, B.E. 2558 through September 30, B.E. 2561, and had the following objectives: (1) to investigate the body of knowledge about peace indexes and indicators on a national and international level; (2) to develop the peace indexes and indicators that were appropriate for the context of Thai society; and (3) to measure the levels of peace in Thai society in order to make recommendations for achieving peace. The employed concepts combined both negative and positive peace from literature and expert opinions in which the indicators were grouped into 4 primary aspects and 23 sub-indicators comprising: (1) the absence of physical violence having the highest peace score; (2) security and safety in society; (3) the acceptance of diversity/ non-discrimination/ the respect in human rights; and (4) the reduction of inequality in the society and an equitable resource distribution. The used data consisted of both secondary data from relevant agencies and primary data from a nationwide survey. 

2) The second period or the present stage, which lasted from October 1, B.E. 2561 through September 30, B.E. 2563, and had the following objectives: (1) to develop the peace indexes and indicators that were appropriate for the context of Thai society; and (2) to measure the levels of peace in Thai society in order to give recommendations for achieving peace. The employed concepts combined both negative and positive peace in which the indicators were classified into 4 primary aspects, as in the initial stage, with 28 subindicators (5 new indicators had been added). The used data consisted of both secondary data from relevant agencies and primary data from a nationwide survey. The research findings provided Thailand’s peace index compared between years B.E. 2561 and B.E. 2563, as well as the levels of peace by province.

3) The third period aiming towards the future, which lasted from October 1, B.E. 2564 through September 30, B.E. 2565, with similar objectives to those of the previous two periods, in which indicators will be improved to reflect the current peace situation, and the measurement of the levels of peace in Thai society will be carried out in order to provide recommendations for achieving peace, particularly in the light of the Covid-19 situation, which has a significant impact on peace.