Tense Situation of Chiang Khong Border Town Development toward Modernity under Chiang Khong’s Special Economic Zone Policy and The Role of Local Social Movement

Abstract

Chiang Khong is one of the three districts in Chiang Rai Province that was
established Special Economic Zone. The research findings revealed that the local
social movement played one important role to reduce tense situation before escalating into violence. It also helped keep the community forests in the hands
of the locals without transferring them for the sake of industrial estate establishment.
Moreover, the tense situation reflected the politics of development of border area and negotiation between the Bureaucratic Polity which aimed to develop the border area into industrial estates connecting through economic globalization and the locals who demanded alternatives for development relevant to spatial contexts and in order to preserve natural resources and environment as well as ways of life. The research design was qualitative method and the field research was conducted in Amphur Chiang Khong during October 2018-February 2019.