Political Economy of Primitive Accumulation: A Case Study of the Land Dispossession of Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate in Chon Buri Province

Abstract

This paper focusing on factors that affect its process and also all stakeholders in the process. Given the foregoing, the study finds three main factors that involve in the process precipitating contention over land: the ideology of development of Thai state; the network system between business (private) and public sectors; and the class cleavage in local societies. The first factor hinges on the formation of force that produces a hegemonic power in terms of the developmental approach, i.e. the driving of industrial development, the developmental policies of economy and economic areas, the policies on the industrial estate and private sectors, and the investment promotion policies. The second factor is the joint activities between capital (private enterprises) and state power by building a good relationship between people, organizations, and all other groups. This particularly involves with the development of industrial estate managed by Mr. Vigrom Grompradit and the seeking of interests by the state power network through governmental officers and politicians. The last factor refers to the extirpation and the less important of agriculture sectors in local societies, which loosen and break the unity of local communities on the grounds of economic and social relations. This leads to the class cleavage of the local people which provides a chance to Amata Corporation Public Company Ltd in land grabbing. Regarding the stakeholders of the land contention, four key actors are involved: state mechanisms; transnational capital; state capital; and local capital. The first actor focuses on the roles of state in public policy making and the operation of public organizations that results in land grabbing. The second stakeholder supports the foreign investment to industrial enterprises and estates from the backstage. The third stakeholder is the main actor in the land contention of Amata Nakorn Industrial Estate. The final actor is the groups of local people in the industrial estate that act as a supporter, bargaining and resistance to the industrial estate.