Departures from the smallholding: agricultural grievance and political change in Thailand, 2013–2014

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent scholarship observes that smallholder agricultural practices in East and South East Asia continue to persist, despite modernization theories predicting otherwise. This article contributes to these discussions by considering the context of smallholder agriculture in southern Thailand, where rubber and oil palm have both long been prevalent in the livelihood profiles of rural households. Beyond demonstrating the ways in which contemporary circumstances of southern Thailand’s smallholders largely cohere within the broader agricultural trends documented for the rest of the country, the discussion branches out to explore the implications of such a sustained smallholder presence beyond the farmgate. It shows specifically how protests staged in Bangkok in late 2013 and 2014, which led to the removal of the Yingluck Shinawatra administration through a coup d’état, ought to be understood partly in relation to earlier rounds of protest, in August and September 2013, when smallholders in southern Thailand blocked highways and railroad crossings to call on the administration for price supports. By assessing these stories jointly, the article shows how the sustained organization of large portions of rural life around smallholder agriculture contributes to shaping the political turns on Thailand’s national stage.