Deliberative Civic Engagement at the Grassroots: An Exploration of Political Participation in Bangkok

Abstract

This article explores conventional grassroots political participation in one of south-east Asia's largest cities, Bangkok. Thailand's reformist constitution, adopted in 1997 as part of its democratic consolidation, sharpened interest in local-level civic engagement and in political participation beyond its usually unpredictable national-level electoral politics. This paper explores some of the modes, motivations and determinants of political participation based on the results of survey data. The analysis suggests three things. First, that the modes of political participation of Bangkokians are more varied than may be commonly believed; secondly, that the issues and problems motivating Bangkokians into political participation are multidimensional in content and by objective; and, thirdly, that the factors that influence such political participation are a combination of the commonly known variables as well as some very contextual ones.

The author is grateful to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, for funding this research under the supplemental Research Support Scheme of 2002. Thanks are also due to Warunee Treebumrungsak, Siriporn Promrat and their colleagues at the AR Group for their assistance with the survey; Chutatong Charumilind and Rashid Ansari for assistance with the preliminary data arrangements; and the anonymous reviewers for comments on an earlier version of this paper. The standard caveat applies.

Notes

1. Other important provisions of the 1997 Constitution set to rein in rampant corruption, fraud and abuse of the political system as well as put in place mechanisms that have seen the emergence of dominant-party politics for the first time.

2. That change in the constitution may account for the recent voter participation rates in parliamentary elections. For example, the 2005 general election, which was also the second general election held under Thailand's 1997 Constitution, saw a 70 + per cent voter participation rate—slightly surpassing, the numbers of the 2001 elections.

3. The districts included, Saimai, Bang Sue, Klong Toei, Bang Khen, Jatujak, Huay Kwang, Bang Kae, Prawet, Laksi, Bangkoknoi, Din Deang, Watana, PasriCharoen, Bung Kum, Don Mueng, Wang Thonglang, Bang Bon, Suan Lueng, Bangna, Tungkru, Bang Khun Tiean, Klong Sam Wa, Dusit, PayaThai, Bangkapi, Yanawa, Jom Thong, Sathon, Thonburi and Nong Kaem.

4. The standard errors of estimates obtained from cluster sampling designs are high compared with those obtained from samples of the same number of listing units chosen by other sampling designs (Levy and Lemeshow, 1999). The reason for this is that listing units within the same cluster are homogeneous, (similar in socioeconomic status, ethnicity and other factors) and this results in redundancy when more than one household within the same cluster is selected. Increasing the sample size is an effective way to remedy this higher standard error problem in comparison with other sampling designs.

5. Whereas respondents from the various districts had roughly the same chance of being selected, the probability of selection the various blocks.

6. Among other things, correlation tests were used to obtain an initial understanding of the relationship between the various dependent and independent variables as well as to identify potential multicolinearity problems among the predictors. Additional data diagnostics included standard tests about whether the various data satisfied underlying statistical assumptions of normality, little or no homoscedasticity or serial correlation. Jarque–Bera (J–B), White and Lagrange multiplier (LM) tests were used and indicated no major problems.

7. Normally two or more variables related to age are used, for example squaring age, in order to deal with the typical curvilinear pattern found by age. We deliberately chose not to do that, to limit the number of variables in our models.

8. We found enormous variation in second jobs. However, substantial categories included taxi drivers, merchants, mechanics and appliance repair crew, insurance sales personnel, direct-marketing representatives, hairdressers, tailors and dressmakers, gemsmiths, gardeners, advertising salesmen, part-time small business owners, money-lenders, photographers, painters and construction workers. Respondents with second occupations were evenly split between male and female and related somewhat to family income.

9. Based on 2000 figures from the Thailand's National Statistics Office.

10. Because of known complications with respondent answers to income questions, our income variable was created using responses to the following questions: (i) “Please look at this card and choose a range that includes your family's total income for last year. Here, under income we include salary, subsidies, pensions, payments in kind, such as grain, etc.”; (ii) “Could you give an estimate?”; (iii) “How many family members contribute money to the family?”; (iv) “How many family members are supported with this money?”; (v) “One final question: what proportion of this total income is your income?”

11. By ‘more politically active’, we mean areas from which a significant number of respondents to our survey reported most political participation acts—information further corroborated with a combination of qualitative élite interview data and reviews of newspapers and literature on political activity in the greater Bangkok region.