ABSTRACT
The environmental movement in Thailand has become a significant force in recent years, notably since the successful campaign to prevent construction of the Nam Choan Dam in 1988. The movement has drawn in a wide range of social, economic and political actors in Thai society, yet it has also maintained its role as a significant challenge to dominant patterns of development and vested interests embodied in the status quo. In this respect, environmentalism represents an oppositional force, but one that has, ironically, been increasingly inclusive. Environmentalism thus signifies a change in the way in which politics is carried out in Thailand, whereby coalitions of interests are assembled to challenge the centralised decision-making of the political elite. This aspect presents certain contradictions within the environmental movement itself, whereby strategic dilemmas arise in relation to concerns over co-optation as the reverse side of enhanced legitimacy of opposition.
