However, despite these changes there is a dearth of contemporary local-level studies of politics and political structures. Consequently, Murashima's comment, made in the late 1980s, that research on the subject remains extremely inadequate' (1987: 363) is largely applicable today. Most analyses of Thai politics begin and end in Bangkok explanations of rural voting patterns in general elections to be rather superficial and based on journalists' reports rather than firs hand research, a recent exception being Callahan and McCargo (1996) Politics at the provincial level and below are mostly ignored a together. For example n a recent volume on elections in Southeast Asia, neither of the two contributors on Thailand even mentions provincial or subdistrict-level elections. One of the contributors Anek, states that, "[b]ecause Thailand is a highly centralized parliamentary democracy, local elections are of little significance. General elections are what matter' (Anek 1996: 203). This statement begs the questions: of little significance to whom and matter to whom? As this book demonstrates, like elsewhere in Southeast Asia, it is elections at the subdistrict and provincial levels rather than general elections that are of the greatest concern to villagers themselves This bottom-up perspective on elections is rooted in the conviction that local and provincial elections "provide a means for understanding