Self-adjustment according to political context of Isan local leaders

บทคัดย่อ

Isan merged to Thailand at beginning of Ratanakosin Era. Since then, the central government began to take political and administrative roles in Isan to seek benefits from resources and to maintain administrative power to prevent invasion from foreign countries by using policy, which has been modified according to domestic and overseas political contexts, as tools. Isan local leaders, as groups, which had received much impact from such changes, handmade self-adjustment according to the policy of the central government in each generation as follows: The 1^st generation was in duration of years B.E. 2325 (1782) – B.E. 2434 (1891). In this generation, Bangkok government had suppressed Laos and demonstrated power over the northeast and caused originally existing local leaders, who were new immigrants, to turn to be loyal to Bangkok in order to seek administrative positions certified by the central administration to signify their status in the administrative class of personnel. The 2^nd generation was in duration of years B.E. 2435 (1892) – B.E. 2475 (1932). In this generation, the central government had policy to pull back the power to the central part and had established lieutenant governor system, which caused the power of the local leaders in the original system to be transferred to the government officials, who were appointed and dispatched from the central part. Since then the local leaders in the original system had gradually disappeared from Isan, but it was beginning point of more power and influence of sub-district chief and village chief. The 3^rd generation has been in duration of year B.E. 2476 (1933) – present. In this generation, many central governments had policy to decentralize the power to local organizations and caused occurrence of several forms of local administrative organizations together with local administrative positions, into which group of local leaders can accede, and had caused them to make self-improvement from lower positions to higher positions and later, when there is increasing of more power and more budget for such organization, it has caused them to make self-adjustment from higher positions to lower positions also.