Thailand’s Indigenous Rights Bills: Ideological Contestation through the Lens of Multiple Streams Framework and Powers of Exclusion

Title: Thailand’s Indigenous Rights Bills: Ideological Contestation through the Lens of Multiple Streams Framework and Powers of Exclusion

Author: Miss Tawanrat Marit

Year: 2023

Keywords:

Theme: Civil society and Democracy

Advisor(s): Carl Nigel Middleton

The full thesis available here.

Abstract: Indigenous communities and ethnic groups have been experiencing marginalization due to the introduction of environmental laws and the prioritization of the national security agenda during the Cold War era. This has led to significant challenges such as land disputes, eviction, and loss of cultural identity. Accordingly, Indigenous communities have mobilized a social movement to advocate for inclusive policy changes. In 2022, Thailand is at a watershed moment as five versions of the Draft Indigenous Rights Bill are under consideration. Thus, this thesis examines the ideological contestations and policy networks involved in the drafting process of Thailand’s Draft Indigenous Rights Bill to analyze the agendasetting of the Bill. The study applies a hybrid conceptual framework that integrates the Multiple Streams Framework (MSF), Policy Network Analysis (PNA), the powers of exclusion, and Subaltern Counterpublics. It aims to dissect the roles of policy actors and ideological divergent in shaping the agenda-setting and potential policy outcomes of the Draft Bill. The data is collected from in-depth interviews with the key informants who involve in the process of drafting the Bills, as well as document review. This thesis contends that the ideological contestation between Indigenous rights, environmental conservation, and national security has significantly influenced the Bill's agenda-setting. In the problem stream, Indigenous rights issues have gained recognition from the government through indigenous movements and advocacy. The analysis from the policy stream finds that the process of presenting the draft Bills is highly dynamic due to the involvement of Indigenous networks, government agencies, and civil society. As they seek to have their solutions adopted, each policy network employs the strategies analyzed through the lens of powers of exclusion. Lastly, the poltics stream finds that the roles of Members of Parliament, bureaucrats, and legislators contribute to national moods and political conditions that enable and constrain the policy windows that allow the bill to be considered.