Asian Political Science Review

TOWARDS INCLUSIVE URBAN GOVERNANCE: STAKEHOLDER DYNAMICS AND POLICY PATHWAYS IN RAJSHAHI, BANGLADESH

2025-10-30T13:47:25+07:00

This study critically examines the complex dynamics of stakeholder participation in urban development projects in Rajshahi City (RC), Bangladesh, to inform strategies for more inclusive and effective outcomes. Specifically, it analyzes the extent of stakeholder involvement across project phases—from decision-making to evaluation—to identify key bureaucratic and socio-political barriers to effective participation and proposes strategies to enhance inclusivity, transparency, and capacity-building among diverse groups. Employing a mixed-methods approach, data were gathered from a purposive sample of 50 respondents, encompassing residents, NGO representatives, and project personnel involved in ongoing development initiatives in RC. The findings indicate that while robust stakeholder involvement generally correlates with positive project implementation, its overall effectiveness is substantially undermined by critical barriers, including limited public awareness, pervasive political interference, weak inter-agency coordination, systemic corruption, and entrenched socio-economic disparities. This research highlights a significant gap between policy intentions and practical realities in participatory development contexts, contributing to the South Asian literature on urban governance. It offers critical policy insights for designing robust, transparent, and equitable urban development strategies, underscoring the imperative for institutional reforms and enhanced civic engagement to achieve sustainable urban governance.

FISCAL DECENTRALIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES: BRIDGING POLICY AND PRACTICE UNDER THE MANDANAS-GARCIA RULING

2025-10-21T13:35:28+07:00

The Mandanas-Garcia Ruling represents a landmark transformation in the Philippine fiscal decentralization framework, substantially expanding the National Tax Allotment for Local Government Units (LGUs). This scoping review systematically synthesizes academic and grey literature published between 2021 and 2025 to meticulously evaluate the ruling’s implementation and its multifaceted impacts on local governance. Adhering to PRISMA guidelines, an in-depth analysis of ten selected studies reveals a critical policy and practice gap. While LGUs fundamentally benefit from significantly increased fiscal resources, deeply entrenched systemic barriers severely hinder optimal public service delivery. The primary challenges identified include an inherently inequitable tax distribution formula that ignores poverty incidence, a pervasive lack of administrative readiness among local personnel, and inadequate intergovernmental coordination. Consequently, the theoretical ideals of fiscal federalism remain unfulfilled, leading to low absorptive capacity and hindered operational outcomes. To successfully bridge this critical implementation gap, the present study strongly recommends urgent legislative reforms to establish a far more equitable fiscal transfer system, alongside sustained capacity-building programs and a robust centralized monitoring framework.

STRUCTURAL POLICY CORRUPTION IN ARCHITECTURAL PROCUREMENT: EVIDENCE OF TOR MANIPULATION IN THAILAND

2025-10-02T13:48:44+07:00

This study investigates structural policy corruption within public architectural procurement in Thailand, focusing on the strategic manipulation of Terms of Reference (TOR). Moving beyond transactional bribery, it conceptualizes TOR formulation as an institutionalized mechanism that deliberately distorts transparency, professional accountability, and fair competition. Using a qualitative case study approach, the study collected data through fifteen interviews and extensive document analysis, guided by the Governance, Risk, and Compliance framework and the COSO Enterprise Risk Management model. The empirical findings reveal four pervasive mechanisms of TOR manipulation: restrictive eligibility criteria, opaque cost estimation practices, superficial public consultation, and the systematic exclusion of independent architectural professionals. These structural vulnerabilities severely compromise design quality and erode public trust, mirroring broader procurement governance challenges across Asian nations. To mitigate these systemic issues, the research strongly advocates for comprehensive governance reforms. Key recommendations include establishing independent TOR review mechanisms, deploying digital procurement platforms, and expanding the regulatory mandate of professional architectural councils to enhance overall transparency and long-term public accountability in future national infrastructure development.

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE: A PARTICIPATORY IRRIGATION MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR RURAL THAILAND

2025-10-07T14:54:07+07:00

This study investigates the role of transformational leadership in fostering participatory irrigation management among local village headmen in Nakhon Phanom Province, Thailand. Addressing the critical global need for sustainable local water governance, the research employs a rigorous mixed-methods design. The study systematically collected quantitative data from 178 local leaders and analyzed them using multiple linear regression, while gathering nuanced qualitative insights through in-depth interviews with 20 key informants. The empirical results demonstrate a highly significant level of overall participation in irrigation management. Crucially, the regression analysis unequivocally reveals that inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation are the primary transformational leadership dimensions driving this active engagement. Complementary qualitative findings further highlight that effective local leaders successfully utilize participatory decision-making platforms, establish enforceable community-based regulations, and integrate appropriate communication technologies. By synthesizing these diverse results, the study proposes a comprehensive participatory development model. Ultimately, this framework shows that sustainable rural water governance requires leaders who transcend traditional administrative roles to empower marginalized groups, cultivate collaborative problem-solving, and build long-term institutional resilience at the grassroots level.

TOURISM AS EMOTIONAL MAINTENANCE: HOW THAI YOUTH NAVIGATE POLITICAL ATMOSPHERES AND SLOW-BURNING PRECARITY

2026-01-12T12:51:53+07:00

This article challenges traditional economic frameworks by conceptualizing domestic tourism in Thailand as a vital affective socio-political practice. Addressing a critical gap in contemporary tourism geographies, the study explicitly explores how young adults navigate environments characterized by slow-burning precarity and persistent political tension. Using a triangulated qualitative methodology—in-depth interviews, narrative inquiry, and focus group discussions with twenty-five participants aged twenty-one to thirty—the research examines the emotional dimensions of youth mobility. The empirical findings reveal that political atmospheres function as an inescapable emotional background rather than a strict constraint on travel, largely perpetuated by continuous digital connectivity. Consequently, domestic tourism is not framed as an apolitical escape, but rather as a highly necessary strategy for emotional maintenance. This adaptive practice provides the psychological restoration needed to sustain long-term civic resilience and ongoing political attentiveness. Ultimately, the study decenters Western-centric paradigms by demonstrating how young travelers seamlessly integrate normalized political volatility into their everyday mobility, offering profound insights into the intersection of spatial movement, affect, and sustainable democratic engagement.

GOVERNING DISASTERS THROUGH CAPACITY BUILDING: CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN THE ROYAL THAI ARMED FORCES

2025-07-17T14:52:57+07:00

This study investigates personnel capacity development within the Royal Thai Armed Forces' Disaster Relief Training Center as a critical governance mechanism. Transcending conventional human resource frameworks, the research conceptualizes military capacity building as an inherently political process that profoundly shapes civil-military relations, inter-agency coordination, and institutional legitimacy. Using a robust mixed-methods case study design, the study systematically gathered empirical data from ninety commissioned and non-commissioned officers through structured questionnaires and in-depth executive interviews. Quantitative analyses reveal a significant positive correlation (r = .653) between personnel's comprehension of organizational objectives and their active engagement in strategic capacity-building initiatives. The findings successfully identify four vital dimensions of governance-oriented capacity: communication clarity, organizational learning, ethical alignment, and structured career advancement. However, structural constraints, such as misaligned training modules and limited access to education, significantly moderate overall developmental effectiveness. Ultimately, integrating operational competency-based training with transparent governance indicators is essential to recalibrate civil-military interactions and strengthen Thailand’s overarching disaster resilience framework.

ALGORITHMIC MANIPULATION AND ELECTORAL INTEGRITY: ASSESSING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IMPACTS ON VOTERS IN PAKISTAN

2026-01-26T22:39:58+07:00

This article examines the profound influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on voter behavior and electoral integrity within developing democracies, focusing specifically on Pakistan. Addressing a critical gap in political communication research, the study investigates how AI-driven technologies—including deepfakes, algorithmic microtargeting, and automated misinformation—systematically manipulate public opinion. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, the research analyzes 38 in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted across Pakistan's four provinces with diverse stakeholders, encompassing voters, politicians, and election officials. The empirical findings show that AI significantly alters political perceptions, with 84.2 percent of participants highly susceptible to treating AI-generated fake media as authentic political content. Furthermore, the study identifies that asymmetric digital literacy and the conspicuous absence of comprehensive regulatory frameworks profoundly exacerbate the effectiveness of algorithmic manipulation. Ultimately, this research argues that unregulated AI deployment fundamentally compromises democratic processes, highlighting an urgent necessity for transparent governance structures, rigorous media literacy initiatives, and robust legal frameworks to safeguard electoral integrity across Asian democracies. The results strongly suggest that immediate institutional interventions are required to counter modern computational propaganda.