Seminar Series: Abstract

Deciphering Illegal Land Occupations in Thailand (1995-2000): The Transformation from Covert to Overt Action of Ordinary Villagers
Nattakant Akarapongpisak

The case of illegal land occupation movements in Thailand in the second half of the 1990s reveals rural political behaviour that little if any study has thoroughly examined - a transformation from covert to overt, collective action of ordinary villagers.
Prior to widespread occupation of private land, villagers farmed covertly on plots of private unused land during the bubble economy of the 1990s. To resolve land disputes with capitalist landowners, they engaged in various forms of everyday politics. Given that villagers had an array of political strategies, why did they eventually opt for illegal land occupation?
This seminar will reveal how villagers’ daily responses to socio-economic changes and to the shift in power relations at the local level influenced them to participate in overt, collective action and how day-to-day activities fed into the transformation from covert to overt action. Also, it will propose that changes in local political settings encouraged by the decentralisation of government provided good conditions for the process of transformation. These issues encourage a rethinking of the consideration of everyday politics, contentious politics and formal politics as separate political domains.