CIVIL SOCIETY AND Somchai DEMOCRATIZATION CIVIL SOCIETY AND Social Movements in Northeast Thailand SOMCHAI PHATHARATHANANUNTH DEMOCRATIZATION CIVIL SOCIETY AND This book is for anyone wondering whatever Social Movements in Northeast Thailand happened to Thailand’s vanished Marxist insurgents or interested to understand the forces behind the mass demonstrations of peasants that periodically descend on Bangkok. Specifically, the book investigates the struggle of an important social movement in Thailand, the Small Scale Farmers’ Assembly of Isan (SSFAI), and examines the role of civil society in the process of democratization. This first major work on the SSFAI demon- strates how civil society organizations in the form of social movements contribute to the demo- cratization process in the key areas of citizenship DEMOCRATIZATION rights. Moreover, the book also addresses two important themes in social movements research: the impacts of strategies and tactics on the outcomes of social movements, and the effect of organizational structure on movements’ goals and activities. A ‘sophisticated, well-researched and ex- tremely important contribution to Thai political studies’ (external reviewer) www.niaspress.dk SOMCHAI PHATHARATHANANUNTH Somchai_reprint-cover.indd 1 9/2/07 12:21:51 Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page i Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEMOCRATIZATION Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page ii Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES MONOGRAPH SERIES 67. Asta Olesen: Islam and Politics in Afghanistan 68. Hans Antlöv: Exemplary Centre, Administrative Periphery 69. Arne Kalland: Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan 70. Weng Eang Cheong: The Hong Merchants of Canton 71. Christine Dobbin: Asian Entrepreneurial Minorities 72. Eldrid Mageli: Organising Women’s Protest 73. 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Cramb: Land and Longhouse 111.Deborah Sutton: Other Landscapes Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page iii Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM Civil Society and Democratization Social Movements in Northeast Thailand Somchai Phatharathananunth Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page iv Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Monograph series 99 First published in 2006 Reprinted in 2007 by NIAS Press NIAS – Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Leifsgade 33, DK–2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark tel: (+45) 3532 9501 • fax: (+45) 3532 9549 E–mail: [email protected] • Website: www.niaspress.dk © Somchai Phatharathananunth 2006 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Phatharathananunth, Somchai Civil society and democratization : social movements in northeast Thailand. - (NIAS monograph ; 99) 1.Social movements - Thailand 2. Democratization - Thailand 3. Civil society - Thailand 4.Thailand - Politics and government - 1988- 5.Thailand - Social conditions - 1986- I.Title 303.484’09593’09051 ISBN 978-87-91114-38-0 (hbk) ISBN 978-87-91114-85-4 (pbk) Typesetting by NIAS Press Printed and bound in the United Kingdom Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page v Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM Contents PREFACE vii ABBREVIATIONS xi 1. INTRODUCTION: CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE STRUGGLE FOR THE RIGHT TO HAVE RIGHTS 1 An overview of politics in Thailand • Problems of Thai democracy • The domination of money politics and the exclusionary nature of Thai democracy • Elite democracy: democratization from above • Civil society as a domain for the struggle for the right to have rights: A view from below • Social movements and citizenship rights • The political nature of the struggle for the right to have rights • Social class and democracy • Farmers’ Movements: Old and new • Research methodology • The structure of the book 2. POLITICAL RADICALISM IN ISAN 24 Isan and the Siamese kingdom • Absolutist state and the millenarian revolts • The idea of ‘village socialism’ • ‘Village socialism’ and the peculiarityof the Sakdina society • Creation of a dominant ideology • The creation of Thai Identity • Isan regionalism in the early period of parliamentary rule • The Free Thai Movement and the grassroots movement in Isan • Isan and parliamentary socialism • Isan under despotic paternalism • Isan and the armed struggle of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) • Summary 3. ORIGIN AND THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD OF THE SMALL- SCALE FARMERS’ ASSEMBLY OF ISAN 53 Political opportunity structure of social movements • Reform or revolution? • Rise of the NGO movement in Thailand • Development of NGOs in Isan • Environmental conflict and the radicalization of Isan NGOs 66 • Founding of the Small Scale Farmers’ Assembly of Isan • Kho Jo Ko and farmers’ resistance in Isan • The political economy of deforestation • The farmers’ resistance to Kho Jo Ko • Community culturalists and Kho Jo Ko • Anarchy or grassroots democracy? • Impact of the anti-Kho Jo Ko movement on the development of the SSFAI • summary Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page vi Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM vi Civil Society and Democratization 4. THE SMALL SCALE FARMERS’ ASSEMBLY OF ISAN DURING THE RADICAL PERIOD (1993–1995) 86 Reconceptualizing the peasantry • The transformation of Isan peasant society • The SSFAI in the radical period • Major protests of the SSFAI during the radical period • Environmental protests and political violence against the SSFAI • Some achievements and limitations of the ssfai protests during the radical period • Summary 5. CONFLICTS, SPLITS AND EXPERIMENTATION WITH A NEW STRATEGY 128 Conflicts within the SSFA • Founding of the Assembly of the Poor (AOP) and the split in the SSFAI • Implementation of two competing organizational structures and strategies • The political economy of the readjustment of farming structure and production system programme • Conflict and split • The assembly of the poor as a new form of popular politics • The SSFAI and the AOP: A comparison • Summary 6. THE SSFAI AFTER THE FAILURE OF THE COMPROMISE STRATEGY 169 Break-up of the Auychai Group • Revision of strategy of the Ssfai: The Nakon Group • Attempted reconciliation between the SSFAI and other rival groups • The search for a new strategy: Land occupation • Summary 7. FROM REGIONAL TO NATIONAL ORGANIZATION 196 The ASSF and the ethnic Lao outside Isan • New form of struggle • Summary 8. CONCLUSION 210 Civil society, class and democracy • The nature of Thai civil society • The strategy and tactic of the struggle for the right to have rights • The organizational structure of the struggle for the right to have rights 9. EPILOGUE 217 BIBLIOGRAPHY 225 INDEX 249 TABLE The demands of the AOP, the SSFAI, and other organizations 132 Somchai_prelims-reprint.fm Page vii Tuesday, September 25, 2007 2:19 PM Preface This book, a study of the role of civil society in the democratization process, focuses on the experience of the Small Scale Farmers’ Assembly of Isan (SSFAI), a major grassroots social movement in Thailand. Democratization has undoubtedly been the ‘great transformation’ of world politics in the twentieth century. It became one of the most pressing issues of academic research. The most influential work on democratization, known as the transition literature, was the collective study edited by O’Donnell, Schmitter and Whitehead (1986). The study, according to Gill, ‘stimulated a whole literature on democratization’ (Gill 2000: 46). The transition literature was an effort to synthesize