Introduction

This chapter provides a broad picture of the role of policy advisory boards, consultants and think tanks in Thailand's public policy ecosystem. Utilising the concept first proposed by Howlett and Migone (2017) on the role of policy consultants or the ‘consultocracy’ in the ‘policy advice system’, this chapter explores the types of policy advisory boards, consultants and think tanks, including their magnitudes of power and influence in Thailand.

The first part of this chapter provides an analysis of the role of foreign advisors or consultants prior to 1932, before Thailand's transition to the modern-day constitutional monarch system. The role of international consultants or experts was a phenomenon in shaping Thailand's modern administration. Thus, despite not having been colonised by the British or other Western powers at the time, Thailand modernised in the same direction as the West. The second part of this chapter covers the emergence and typologies of modern-day policy advisory boards, consultants and think tanks between 1932 and 2020. Data is drawn from publicly available statistics of consultants, individuals and organisations that have been hired for various public projects. Such statistics are available through procurement and registration systems managed by the Ministry of Finance. It gives the picture of how consultants and advisors are highly influential and important in Thailand's policy networks today.

The third section provides a discussion on the historical view as well as the contemporary view of the role of consultants in Thailand. We see traces of historical influence in consultants’ roles today. Critical discussion is made on the implications of viewing consultants as policy actors. Consultants should be held accountable for their services; they should be regarded as a profession, and they should not perpetuate the noble aristocratic role of elites in the past.

There are optimistic opportunities for the healthy development of advisory boards, consultants and think tank ecosystems for Thailand. With the digital technologies of today, policy data and knowledge are no longer scarce resources, and there is a need to develop innovative ways to better integrate, share and utilise policy knowledge for better sound policy designs and management.