Following Andrew’s extensive reviews of the recently released UNDP report that puts “sufficiency economy” at the heart of Thailand’s human development, The Economist has launched its own broadside at the Thai junta and its economic philosophy. Anybody serious about understanding why so many people around the world are concerned about the direction of Thailand’s political-economy could do worse than read this article.

Its punchline is unsurprising for anybody who has followed Andrew’s analysis. The Economist argues:

In publishing such an unbalanced report on a theory that is untried on a national level, the UNDP has abandoned all sense of objectivity. It is also lending legitimacy to a regime that took power by force. Hakan Bjorkman, the UNDP‘s deputy chief in Thailand, says it wanted to provoke a debate. But no such debate is possible in Thailand, because sufficiency theory is the king’s philosophy and anything remotely critical of it could be seen as lèse-majesté, punishable with jail.