Characteristics of Local Democracy of People in the Past Two Decades of Decentralization: A Case of Khao Roop Chang Town Municipality, Mueang District, Songkhla Province

Abstract

There are two objectives of this research work to study: (1) the differences of characteristics of local democracy of the people in the past two decades of decentralization and (2) the characteristics of local democracy of the people which has some impacts on success in the past two decades of decentralization. The sample group in the study consists of 725 samples in the responsible area of Khao Roop Chang Town Municipality, Mueang District, Songkhla Province. In the first objective, the researcher uses the quantitative research design to collect data using the questionnaires. The data are statistically analyzed with t-test and F-test. Then, the researcher combines the quantitative result with the qualitative result. The quantitative data are collected by in-depth interviews. As for the second objective, the qualitative research design is solely used, and the data are collected from the questionnaires and then analyzed by Multiple Regression. The findings reveal that 1) the difference of the characteristics of local democracy in terms of participation system depends on the political stronghold of the mayor and its impact. 2) The difference of the characteristics of local democracy in terms of citizenship depends on social values. 3) The difference of the characteristics of local democracy in terms of trust to self-government depends on the benefits gained from the local government. 4) The difference of the characteristics of local democracy in terms of electoral system for local councils, role of political parties and representativeness depends on monopoly, closeness to the local government, benefits from the local government and military government intervention. 5) The difference of the overall local democracy depends on closeness with the local government and the public collaborative network, and 6) the characteristics of local democracy that affect success of decentralization are electoral system for local councils, trust to self-government and citizenship. The variables that can predict the success of decentralization is approximately 38.7 percent (R² = .387). However, the benefit of this research aims to provide the resolutions on decentralization in Thailand that needs several success factors from citizen perspective which plays an important role on decentralization.