1 Introduction
Decentralisation and participation ought to gain momentum when promoted at the same time.
Yet, the cause and effects of the interdependence between decentralization and participation is
highly debated. Obviously, decentralization does not take place in an institutional vacuum. It
happens in an institutional environment that either enables or hinders political participation
(Geppert et al. 2002). While there is a considerable body of literature on (1) rural
decentralization, (2) farmers’ participation and (3) enabling institutions, studies that embrace
these three fields are rather scarce. Furthermore, the causes and effects of these single
dimensions are often intermingled. Hence, as pointed out by Smoke (2003) they are integrated
and must be considered together. The fundamental question is whether it is possible to design
a top down decentralization process that allows participation to become reality in a way that it
actually impacts rural institutions, or if the problem lies in the political economy inherent
already in the motivation for the decentralization reform? Thus, we will particularly take into
account the objective of government to decentralize.
The Thai decentralization process in the last two decades has brought about a massive change
in the central-local administrative relationship and is still ongoing (Nagai et al. 2008).
Thailand has decentralized important duties and responsibilities of administrative bodies and
created, for instance, new local administrative bodies the Tambon Administrative
Organization (TAO). The decentralization processes in Thailand is understood as politically
imposed institutional change to create options for local political participation. The positive
arguments for decentralization policies should be qualified for the Thai context at least once.
Even if the decentralization process had been laid out perfectly in its design to allow for
participation, there might still be endogenous cultural and social factors that hinder
participation. The question appears whether the decentralization and formally implemented
rules could lead to political participation at all?