The Erosion of the Local Political Power Cycle and Good Governance

Abstract

This academic article analyzes the crisis of faith in grassroots democracy, eroded by the power cycles of influential networks and political families at the local level. Local governance, which should be the primary mechanism for promoting good governance and citizen participation, has been transformed into a tool for maintaining personal interests and perpetuating power through hereditary succession, systematically extending from the provincial level down to the village. This phenomenon reflects a distortion of the power structure, turning political positions into family businesses, with those behind the scenes manipulating decisions to benefit their cronies at the local administrative and legislative levels. There is evidence of abuse of power that violates the principles of transparency and accountability. Budget and development projects are controlled to align with the interests of kinship-based business groups. At the village level, some community leaders use their positions to accumulate illicit wealth through front-line activities to secure public funds and leverage economic influence through lending to control the masses and monopolize votes. Upon termination of their terms, positions are passed on to spouses or relatives to create a barrier against scrutiny and perpetuate the cycle of benefits. The resulting impact severely undermines genuine local development, as public resources are used in inefficient projects that fail to meet the actual needs of the people. Furthermore, it erodes the spirit of democracy, leading to despair and submission among local residents. This article therefore proposes reform approaches through the creation of independent external oversight mechanisms, the modification of project evaluation methods to focus on quality of life outcomes rather than activities, and the improvement of laws regarding applicant qualifications to prevent nepotism and the monopolization of power by kinship-based networks. The aim is to restore good governance and return transparent and fair self-governance to Thai society sustainably.