Leadership and development in North East Thailand

The success of planning and implementation of development projects depends to a great degree on leadership. Every human community is organised along some pattern. In rural Thailand the overall pattern of village organisation can be labelled as a social organisation or social structure. Whithin this overall structure there are a number of subpatterns of the system, relating to different aspects of community life. There are, for example, the systems relating to, secular authorities, kinship, economics, education, status- prestige, and religion. The overall structure with its subsidiary systems, along with their associated values and beliefs, provide the cultural framework in which leadership is shaped and nourished. The persons most likely to act as such leaders are the commune headman, the head of an extended family group, the former monk, the village headman, the teacher and the Abbot. Among them the last three persons are referred to as being more influential and of these three the headmaster is respected for his knowledge, but he is rarely a local man, and this reduces his effectiveness. The Headman is often seen by many as the representative of the Central Government being involved too much with the administration. Therefore the Abbot emerges as the most influential person in the village, being both, a local man and independent of government support. Therefore the Government is trying to involve the Sangha in its Village Development Project, especially in the sensitive areas of the North East which are open to communist infiltration.