การรักษาอำนาจทางการเมืองของผู้นำท้องถิ่นในอำเภอแม่ทา จังหวัดลำพูน

Abstract

The study “Political Power Maintenance of Local Leaders in Mae Tha District, Lamphun Province” aimed to investigate factors affecting political power maintenance of local leaders whom have been trusted by local people in Mae Tha District, Lamphun, and to study how the local leaders maintained their political power in Mae Tha District, Lamphun. This qualitative research employed an in-depth interview method to collect the data from 78 key informants comprising of formal and informal leaders as well as officials in Mae Tha District. The followings were six factors found in the study which affected the political power maintenance of local leaders whom have been trusted by the local people. 1. Legal factor: unspecified term in office allowed local leaders to work continuously. 2. Personal factor: this factor included education, work experience, personality, age, and family reputation of each leader. 3. Relationship with local relative factor: this factor supported campaigns and passed on information from the local leaders. 4. Political factor: most local leaders would be neutral in terms of the political parties and the MPs but would have relationships with other local leaders. 5. Interest group factor: this factor included, for instance, local leaders, community health volunteers, senior citizen. 6. Other factors: economic condition of the opponents and budget investment factor, for example, affected the local people to trust the leaders and supported them while in the office. Furthermore, the study revealed five strategies the local leaders employed to maintain their political power. 1. Personality or image building for the local leaders 2. Introducing and publicizing individual leaders through media to be well known 3. Participating in local public interest activities to build cultural relationships 4. Budget management especially finding sources of funding or providing assistance and development for the people and sub-districts 5. Political strategies and other factors to support the chances to win the elections In terms of suggestions, it could be recommended that local people should be supported to participate in politics and the mechanism of checks and balances should be created because the local leaders in Mae Tha District, Lamphun maintained their political power by relying on different factors, for example, political, legal, interest group factors, which, consequently, became political networks under a patronage system. This could result in the monopoly of political power of the local leaders and the decline in chances to develop the local leaders. For future research, it should include supportive factors among local politicians, political parties, and national politicians, especially, factors relying on personal relationships to connect with financial and work supports to create dimensions of knowledge in political structure. In addition, other leader cases in the local areas should be included in the study, for instance, the merchants association, the senior citizen groups, and youth groups as they have played more important roles in politics. Especially, a study should include their roles as political leader supporters.