POLITICAL PARTICIPATION DURING CONFLICT: Thanikun Chantra
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POLITICAL PARTICIPATION DURING CONFLICT: A CASE STUDY OF THE CONFLICT AREAS IN SONGKHLA AND PATTANI PROVINCES OF THAILAND A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in the University of Canterbury by Thanikun Chantra University of Canterbury 2017 ii This thesis is dedicated to the memory of Loungphor Thavorn, My greatest hero, inspiration, and role model. I also dedicated the thesis to my mother, Chanisa Chantra, and my aunt, Laor Chantra. I attribute all my success in life to these two wonderful women. iii Acknowledgement I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. James Ockey, my most favorite supervisor of all times. I cannot thank him enough for what he has supported me through these years. His supervision really improved my work, but beyond that are his kindness and encouragement that tremendously helped me getting through very difficult times along this journey. I would also like to thank Dr. Naimah Talib for her generosity and warmth during my study in New Zealand. She has helped me through stressful moments. I deeply appreciate her caring and constant support. It means so much to me. I would also like to thank all my interviewees in Thailand. They did not only give me useful information, they also inspired me to be a better person, who seeks to help others and hometown. I would also like to thank Yaya and Gareth for their hearty hospitality and friendship. I am so thankful for our enjoyable time together in New Zealand. Special thank to Tor for making my time in Christchurch a lot nicer and warmer. Last, but most importantly, I would like to express a deep sense of gratitude to my family for always having faith in me and supporting me in every way. I would not have gotten this far without their love and encouragement. iv Abstract This thesis examines the relationship between conflict and violence in the Deep South of Thailand and the political participation of people in the conflict areas by focusing on both electoral and non-electoral modes of participation. In this thesis, we hypothesized that first, conflict leads to a greater desire for peaceful political participation. Second, people in a conflict zone are more likely to participate in politics in other forms, including electoral and non-electoral ways. Third, there is a relationship between level of violence and level of political participation: the same concerns that lead to violence also lead to participation; people’s experiences of the conflict and violence have an additional impact on their desire for political participation, thus, high levels of violence correlate with high levels of peaceful participation. Fourth, a weak civil society failing to promote popular interests and resist state domination will lead to more conflict. Finally, a strong state preventing demands and closing channels for peaceful political participation will lead to more conflict. In this thesis, we explore political participation through three channels; 1) political participation through elections which includes political participation of both voters and politicians in parliamentary, senate, and local elections, 2) political participation through the state which focuses on three main state actors, security officials, justice officials, and local authorities, and 3) political participation through civil society, examining five different groups of civil society actors, including the youth, women, business, religious leaders, and the media. Following this, the thesis draws a comparison among three different levels of conflict areas, which are non violence, low violence, and high violence conflict areas in v Pattani and Songkhla, in order to discover if there are any linkages between the levels of conflict in the Deep South and the level of political participation of people in the region. In this thesis, we see that conflict can be seen as a form of participation, albeit a violent form. The conflict and violence creates a greater desire for people to be more active in politics through peaceful means as they seek to reduce suffering from the insurgent violence. This study finds that people in the conflict areas of the Deep South are more likely to participate through many channels when they perceive incentives are high enough to overcome risks. The thesis reveals that the levels of violence and levels of some forms of political participation are correlated: the more frequent the violent incidents, the higher the level of voter turnout. The roles of civil society are also increasing in the Deep South, even though many CSO activities are controlled by the state. State control, through either funding or coercion, decreases meaningful participation and makes some participation with the state illegitimate, for many in the Deep South. When people realize that their participation is not free will, they may turn to violence as they think it is the only means to resist and freely express their opposing political views. However, other people participate, despite state control, because participation can be a useful tool for challenging and resisting the state, but in peaceful way. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgement ................................................................................................................... iii Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ xi Chapter 1 : Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Historical background of the conflict and violence in the Deep South of Thailand: ............. 7 Understanding historical grievances ................................................................................... 9 Emergence of the fighters ................................................................................................. 23 A moment of reconciliation .............................................................................................. 29 The upsurge of the conflict and violence in the Deep South of Thailand since 2004:......... 33 Beginning of the reversal .................................................................................................. 33 The return of military-led control ..................................................................................... 46 Research questions ............................................................................................................... 51 Scope of the study ................................................................................................................ 52 Significance of the issue ....................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 2 : Literature Review .............................................................................................. 56 Political participation ........................................................................................................... 56 Concept and definition...................................................................................................... 56 Factors influencing political participation ........................................................................ 58 Modes of political participation ........................................................................................ 62 Political participation in the Thai context ............................................................................ 74 Political participation in the Thai southern border context .................................................. 87 Conflict as participation ....................................................................................................... 96 Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................... 99 Research methodology ....................................................................................................... 100 Unobtrusive measures..................................................................................................... 101 Field work method .......................................................................................................... 103 Case study ....................................................................................................................... 111 vii Chapter 3 : Political Participation in the Deep South before 2004 ................................ 113 Political participation through election .............................................................................. 114 Political participation through the state .............................................................................. 126 Political participation through civil society ....................................................................... 138 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................