4 - Entrepreneurial Journey: "Panacea" Vision and Depoliticization of Ethnic Minorities in Northern Thailand

Many governments, private companies, and others throughout the world have adopted the entrepreneurship approach viewed as a panacea for solving domestic economic problems and improving economic and societal sustainability. Thailand also followed this trend. Thanks to the support of entrepreneurship from the Thai government at various policy levels, small and medium business enterprises (SMEs) and individual entrepreneurs have gained recognition and moved forward to practice their capabilities from 2010 onward. 
This paper explores the ambivalent impacts of the Thai government’s support of entrepreneurship for the Akha communities by using the case study of Mae Jan Tai village in Chiang Rai province. It will first show how the ethnic history during the past decades has been trapped within the hierarchal order centered on Thai national sovereignty that justifies an uneven relationship between majority and minority. Fostering entrepreneurship, strengthening the SMEs' performance, and promoting ethnic entrepreneurs, on the one hand, have contributed to the positive development of ethnic communities, thereby empowering local businesses. On the other hand, this promotion and the business activities affected not only the depoliticization of ethnic conflicts in Thailand but also the emergence of new challenges. The Akha communities are left with issues that could further complicate extant ethnic tensions, including the conflict with the Thai government’s forestry policies and continuing ethnic discrimination limiting the political and legal rights of the ethnic people.