The agricultural sector in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan is facing a number of interrelated crises, including aging producers, falling market prices, changing consumer preferences, and biodiversity degradation. Small-scale farmers in these three societies have engaged in diverse collaborative initiatives with actors from the public, private, and third sectors to overcome these challenges. We illustrate these initiatives by combining the concept of societal entrepreneurship (Berglund et al. 2012) with a complex understanding of social capital (see Brunie 2009). Given that these initiatives are formed in distinct ways across these societies, the paper aims to answer the following research questions: What is the nature of the relationships (expressed as types of social capital) underlying the processes of societal entrepreneurship? How does social capital contribute to sustainable community development? How does it facilitate the scaling up of solutions through multi-sectoral collaboration? Using a case study approach, we aim to explore multi-sector initiatives in each context in depth, before identifying common patterns and key drivers for collaboration through thematic analysis. We have found that distinct drivers are involved in each context due to different types of social capital, including solutions, advocacy, and reconciliation.
general elections in Thailand ultimately illustrated former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's (2001-2006) unbowed popularity in most parts of the country. The election result was all the more impressive when one takes into account that the figurehead of the People Power Party, Thaksin himself, had been literally absent for sixteen months. The coup against Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (TRT) government on 19 September 2006 had drawn on widespread dissatisfaction within the urban middle-class, sparked by Thaksin's authoritative and alleged corruptive practices. This dissatisfaction was especially visible in early 2006, when anti-Thaksin rallies took place in Bangkok. The coup makers, led by General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, tried to legitimize the overthrow by stating several reasons, such as the rift in Thai society, corruption, power abuse, and lese majeste charges. During its term, the military-installed government under Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont more or less effectively banished everything associated with Thaksin. Popular policies were either removed or renamed and media coverage on the deposed Prime Minister restricted, among other things. In early 2008, shortly after the elections, top executives of the People Power Party announced a revival of most policies introduced during the TRT government's period. Thaksin's socioeconomic policies have constituted the main reason for his sustained popularity. "Thaksinomics"-the development strategy during his term-claimed to be an alternative to the "Washington Consensus," which through powerful institutions, such as IMF and World Bank, promote neoliberal policy making (through export orientation, attraction of foreign direct investment, minimal market intervention by the state, liberalization, privatization, the rule of law etc.). Aside from Thaksinomics, another set of development theories has emerged to challenge orthodox-meaning neoliberal-economic theory. The latter type shares with Thaksinomics the perception that orthodox economic theory as promoted by the IMF usually fails to solve the economic problems of crisis-ridden developing countries. Moreover, some nations have achieved economic success despite ignoring such liberal policies, China being the prime example here. This "heterodox" view on economic development first emerged within the neoliberal school, but it has slowly become an alternative to it (Sabel, 2005, p. 4). Whereas the global institutions IMF and World Bank still promote economic development according to the neoliberal model, the heterodox view on economic development seems to increasingly have gained ground within institutions of the United Nations. 1 As the development model of this school of thought includes all factions within societies, it ensures democracy and compliance with human rights. Since the Thaksinomist development strategy is likely to shape Thailand's future under the banner of the People Power Party, this paper will outline the most promi
Due to the concentration of people and industries, cities are the main human habitats where residents can create opportunities for flourishing economic, political and social lives. However, these diverse anthropogenic activities also create flows of material and energy within cities that are inevitably produced and wasted. In order to investigate how cities can better reduce and repurpose the flows of material and energy, this paper adopts the urban metabolism approach to frame cities as a complex socio-ecological system where natural and human systems co-produce the environment the urban population depends on. To illustrate urban metabolism at work, we have selected Thaklong municipality in Thailand and Pingtung county in Taiwan as case studies to compare different innovative measures taken by university departments to reduce organic waste through action research oriented repurposing experiments. Although the size of the cities, the type of targeted organic waste varies and local culture differs, the case studies of Thaklong and Pingtung show that the university departments as change agents and the stakeholders as recipients of proposed change face similar opportunities and challenges.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.