Abstract
AbstractHow do cultural practices influence the process of participatory governance within local administrative structures? We address this question by reflecting cultural dimensions, such as collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance within a contextual sensitive “cultural sensemaking” model. The modelled context refers to community development meetings held in Thai communities. Here people gather to discuss development plans, which are later finalized at the Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO). We hypothesize that cultural practices influence action by giving the people the rules for action. The analysis of culture in the context of these meetings is an interpretive one and involves qualitative observation of and structured interviews. Our results show that the prevailing cultural practices do not promote truly transparent and open discussions as ascribed to participatory governance tools. Consequently, local leaders employ a subtle paternalistic leadership style. Yet, cultural practic...
Highlights
Institutions are considered to be the means by which a society overcomes collective action problems
We focused on Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO), the most widespread decentralized administrative bodies, and the local governance arenas, in which local deliberation and participation ought to take place
In the following, the empirical findings are discussed following the heuristic of cultural dimensions, viewed through a cultural sensemaking lens to account for the specific context, i.e. ordinary farmers and local leaders deliberating development plans in a community development meeting
Summary
Institutions are considered to be the means by which a society overcomes collective action problems. The introduction of TAOs with their executive committees can be considered to be an exogenous institutional innovation, sanctioned by the Thai government, thereby supporting more appropriate local public investments through participatory deliberation of the stakeholders and attaining more efficient local economic development This change in formal institutional structure takes place in light of the existing cultural practices in the Tambons. This behaviour can be a reaction to a situation in which the farmers do not find it necessary to engage in “value trumping” (the recognition that in specific contexts certain cultural practices take precedence over others) because the projects discussed may be in line with their general preferences This finding is in line with the cultural script of making a difference between real vs espoused values (Osland & Bird, 2000). In the end, the village elites might exploit their potential agency following given cultural practices within the certain political structure, without aiming at personal benefits
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