People's participation in planned development in Thailand: A discussion of the role of the Tambon council

In Thailand, as in many developing countries, development planning officially began in the 1950, and was associated with approaches advocated by those who hold the view of development I from above I (Hansen, 1981 :15-38). Thus the country has put emphasis on urban and industrial, capital intensive development, the highest avaiable technology and maximum use of external and scale ecoomies. These can be clearly seen in the Royal Thai Government (RTG) development strategy outlined in three National Economic and Social Development Plans (1961-1976) which stressed the twin goals of economic growth and national stability. The First and Second Plan placed priority on the expansion of economic and social infrastructure, including transportation, communication, irrigation, education and industry. In a sense, these plans revealed that the RTG put a heavy reliance on the strategy of importsubtitution urban based industrialization (Douglass ,1981 :193).