BOOK CHAPTER: State, NGOs, and Villagers: How the Thai Environmental Movement Fell Silent

Publication date:
2021

Publication:
Environmental Movements and Politics of the Asian Anthropocene

Chapter Title:
State, NGOs, and Villagers: How the Thai Environmental Movement Fell Silent

Author:
Jakkrit Sangkhamanee

Editors:
Paul Jobin, Ming- sho Ho and Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao

For further details on the book and how to purchase, please visit the book's website here. You can also access the chapter individually from the link above.

Abstract

In this chapter, I shed some light on the dynamism of environmental movements in Thailand, focusing on the shifting relations between keys actors as they seek to situate their political agenda within national environmental politics.

The case of Thailand provides an insight into the important relationship between environmental social movements and political spaces that alternate between the confined and the dynamic. On the one hand, environmental movements can be considered as a driving force in the process of democratization at large, the idea popularized by new social movement scholars during the 1990s and 2000s. On the other hand, the context of political regimes in which environmental movements operate also shapes the nature of their advocating agenda and actions. The dualistic relations between these two spheres of operation often fluctuate, influenced by the changing relations between diverse actors. As this chapter has illustrated, Thailand’s environmental politics during the past few decades can be described as a triangulated relation, fundamentally shaped by the ever-changing state, civil society organizations, and citizens.