The development of the local residents' autonomy and the emerging of the ‘civil society' in Thailand

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

1.Project meeting We held ten times of the meetings for the project period of three years. Moreover, on December 18, 2005, we had an open big meeting at Doshisha University, inviting a guest speaker from Thailand, that is Ms. Jinda Imporn, who is a Bangkok Metropolitan government officer, also inviting Mr. Manabu Ajisaka (Professor, Faculty of Sociology, Doshisha University) as a guest commentator. The results obtained from the research were also reported by the members at that meeting. 2.Achieved result of research. Five times field researches were done for the three years' period of the project. Findings obtained as a result of investigation are as follows ; The Chumchon system, a new residents' self governance system has been enforced by BMA (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration) since the beginning of 1990's, and it seems apparent a certain level maturity of the local society as a acceptance (attainment at the level of so-called ‘civil society') will be indispensable if the system w … More ill be functioned effectively. As the case of Chumchon A, an former rural area, since it has long been in the bottom of local administration system of the Ministry of Interior, and has been accustomed to "The above mind under" type of "patron - client system" be under the provinces jurisdiction for a long time. At Chumchon A, that image is materialized by the "Kamnan-Phuyai baan system" with their strong leadership. Since the villagers' tend to understand the new Chumchon system in that traditional context, they think the new leaders under the Chumchon system are deficient of the leadership. Actually, as the number of non-farmers increases, and the many newcomers migrates in the community, the community is no more a homogeneous community in the point of ethnicity, occupation, nor income. The rural community, nowadays, lose its unity, and is apparently more incompetent than these urban middle class residential area on the ability to organize self-autonomous community. On the other hand, in Chumchon B, mainly consisted of urban middle-middle or lower middle class, though it can be said that the committee has been managed efficiently since it originally has been formed in order to negotiate with the real estate company to solve the problems of the residential area. Though, as the problems seemed to be solved gradually, there has emerged the group, those share the ‘traditional' way of thinking to consider the committee as some kind of ‘profitable' post. That kind of thinking that is tend to connect the position with the profit has been stronger day by day, and it caused the result that the old and original members of the committee has severely being defeated on the election of the members of the committee at August, 2005. On these kind of ‘new' reaction at the research cite, it is required to keeping observing from now on. As for the rapid expanding urban middle class, the process of a new regional social formation seems to repeat meandering to grope for the "Thai" type of urban self-autonomy and formation of "Thai" type of civil society. Less