The Integration of Buddhadhamma and Political Communication to Strengthen Reconciliation

Abstract

The objectives of this research paper were 1) to study the problems of political communication in Phayao Province; 2) to study the factors of political communication to strengthen reconciliation in Phayao Province; and 3) to propose a model for Integration of Buddhadhamma and political communication to strengthen reconciliation in Phayao Province. This study was a qualitative research. Data were collected with a questionnaire from a sample of 400 people from Phayao Province. The statistics used in the data analysis were frequency, mean, percentage and standard deviation. The results found that 1) political communication problems in Phayao Province  found that in the aspect of the messenger, some politicians communicated to persuade people to choose sides which may cause a breakdown in unity; on the message side,  politicians did not tell the whole truth;  in the aspect of communication channel, there had been a cumulative problem of unequal benefit allocation in the past; in terms of receiver, there must be consciousness and morality in receiving information;  2) political communication factors to strengthen reconciliation in Phayao Province found that overall, it was at a high level (= 3.63). Considering by the average from highest to lowest, it was found that the mean was at a high level in all aspects as follows: the aspect with the highest mean was the receiver ( =3.84), followed by the message (=3.62), the messenger (=3.58) and the communication channel (= 3.51); and 3) a model for Integration of Buddhadhamma and political communication to strengthen reconciliation in Phayao Province found that in terms of messenger, messengers must focus on morality and ethics;  on the message side, sources could be referred to benefit both public and personal; in the aspect of communication channel,  there should be a friendly communication channel to each other;  in terms of receiver,  there should be adherence to Dhamma with consciousness and an integration of morality that was beneficial to the public.