Discovering Thainess – Wichit Wathakan and Creation of Thai National Identity

‘Thainess’ is a term deeply ingrained into political discourse of Kingdom of Thailand. Politicians from different camps and parties use it to this day. This quite new concept was defined by Wichit Wathakan, who created a political philosophy around it. His works set a tone of discussion about the nation and the state in Thailand back in the 1930s. His concepts are still alive and well, and also more apparent than those proposed by his opponents. This article explains reasons of emerging of nationalism in Thailand and Thai nationalism, as well as character of both of them.