Lao Isan - Sociopolitical Organization

Northeast Thailand is part of the kingdom of Thailand, a constitutional monarchy.

Social Organization. Village social life is threaded together by a series of hierarchical patron-client relationships. Relative age, wealth, education, and occupation all play a role in determining relative status among individuals. Because of this personal style of social organization it is difficult to form long-lasting groups in village communities that are not based on a particularly charismatic, skilled, or respected individual. Monks, especially abbots of monastic communities, can hold a particularly high status in village life. This is because villagers have respect for Buddhism and the monastic organization, and a high regard for educated persons. Abbots are usually relatively well-educated or have other skills that win respect. Such individuals can be important in the formation of groups, as many development agencies have found.

Political Organization. As in the rest of Thailand, the seventeen provinces of the northeast are divided into districts, which are made up of municipal areas and subdistricts ( tambon ). Each subdistrict is made up of numbered hamlets, which usually crosscut locally named villages. Heads of hamlets and the tambon are elected, although the process for election can vary from village to village. Both men and women are now eligible for election to these village offices. The district head is a bureaucrat appointed by Bangkok, as is every other official up to the provincial governor. Thailand has an elected form of parliamentary government, so that villagers also have the opportunity to elect representatives to the national assembly in Bangkok.

Social Control. Buddhism provides guidelines for villagers' behavior, as typified by the five precepts for the laity: refrain from taking life, from stealing, from illicit sexual activity, from speaking falsely, and from consuming inebriating substances. Gossip and clustered housing provide other means of social control. The open houses permit neighbors to be aware of each others' activities. Additionally, traditional headmen do have the prerogative to fine villagers for breaking customary regulations. These rules usually deal with unacceptable intimate contact of men with unmarried women.

Conflict. Northeast Thailand has been involved in opposition to the central authorities several times during the twentieth century. When Siam first asserted bureaucratic control over the area early in the century, there were the "men-of-merit" rebellions by politicoreligious peasant leaders. They often claimed magical powers in their opposition to Bangkok. By the 1960s, the northeast was known as a region where Communist rebels were widely popular among sections of the peasantry. In more recent times, the northeast has been part of the ongoing political conflict in Thailand typified by the gangster-style murders of political and business rivals. Thailand has the second-highest murder rate in the world. Villages in the northeast have a long tradition of acquiescence to naklaeng, or toughs in local gangs, who enforce political decisions made by powerful and/or wealthy community members. Villages were traditionally abused and/or protected by such gangs.