Civil Society and Democratization: Social Movements in Northeast Thailand

by Somchai Phatharathananunth

This book is for anyone wondering whatever happened to Thailand's vanished Marxist insurgents or interested in understanding 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 demonstrates how civil society organizations in the form of social movements contribute to the democratization process in the key areas of citizenship 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.

"When it was published in 2006, at the height of Thaksin’s power, Somchai felt he had to write an epilogue since it appeared that his study had been overtaken by events that seemed to have fundamentally changed Thai politics." - Wolfram Schaffar, Hildesheim University, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Studies 28 (3), 2009

Somchai Phatharathananunth is Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mahasarakham University, Thailand.

Publication year: 2006
264 pp / 215mm x 139mm
1 table
ISBN: 978-87-91114-85-4, Paperback
ISBN: 978-87-91114-38-0, Hardback

NIAS Press