The Political Movement in Pushing the Sustainable Agricultural Policy in Thailand B. E. 2557-2564

Abstract

This article aimed to study the political opportunity structure that facilitates sustainable agricultural policy and the process of policy formulation and policy implementation. Including studying various actors and their interactions in formulating sustainable agricultural policy in Thailand in the period 2014-2021, using qualitative research methods and collecting data through document research and interviews.

The research found that the political opportunity structure that facilitates sustainable agricultural policy in the period 2014-2021 stems from the decision-making power of General Prayut Chan-o-cha, head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and as the only Prime Minister This, together with the structure of the Parliament which consisted of 250 senators, results in a more stable government in the process of formulating the national strategy that is sustainable agricultural policy. The actors involved in the process of formulating the national strategy include non-governmental actors, namely the Internet for People’s Law Project Office (iLaw), and government actors, namely the Cabinet as the government. The policy-making relationship between such actors is in the form of an interaction between the political structural context and the legal structural context in which the national strategy must be formulated as specified by the Constitution. Moreover, the relationship between the actors is in the form of demands, pressure, and submission to demands. And when the national strategy comes into effect, the strategy must be translated into practice by creating the 12th National Economic and Social Development Plan for the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to implement by creating a plan to promote and develop sustainable agriculture. This is an action plan for sustainable agriculture to be implemented at both the central and local levels in order to achieve the goals set forth in the next plan.