Political Science Review

Khon Kaen's Smart City Development: Process-Oriented Lessons and City Enterprise Architecture

Suriyanon Pholsim — 2025-12-03

This research article aims to investigate the social processes and analyze the city enterprise architecture structure of Khon Kaen's smart city development. The research employs a qualitative, single-case study methodology, focusing on Khon Kaen Province. Data were collected through secondary sources and documentary research, which were subsequently analyzed using thematic and content analysis to construct a process model and evaluate the enterprise architecture of Khon Kaen’s smart city development. The findings indicate that the Khon Kaen Smart City development consists of four primary processes: (1) Feasibility study and development approach analysis; (2) Internal and external dialogues; (3) Establishment of smart city development mechanisms; and (4) Creation of concrete implementation pathways for smart city initiatives. Furthermore, the study identifies four principal layers of Khon Kaen's smart city enterprise architecture: the social ecology layer, the technical layer, the urban data and application layer, and the business layer or smart city business model.

the Palestine Refugee Crisis: Humanitarian Assistance and Political Solution in the Framework of the United Nations

Arthit Thongin — 2025-12-03

This research article has three main objectives: (1) To clarify the development of Palestine refugee crisis situation since 1948 to present; (2) To clarify the role of the United Nations in providing humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees and; (3) To clarify political solutions to the Palestine refugee crisis within the framework of the United Nations. Based on the concept of settler colonialism and humanitarianism, this research article uses qualitative research methods to study related documents. The results of study are as follows: (1) The emergence and development of the Palestinian refugee crisis situation is a significant result of Israel's settler colonization process. This process has continued before the founding of the State of Israel until the present day to systematically destroy and replace the demographics of the occupied territories; (2) To provide humanitarian assistance to Palestine refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has expanded its mission to cover almost every aspect of refugee life. This brings about a budgetary dilemma that is not sustainable for mitigating the negative impacts of conflicts that will never end easily and; (3) The key challenges in solving political problems within the framework of the UN Security Council (UNSC) are not only the use of the United States' veto over relevant draft resolutions but also the inability to enforce the resolution against Israel. The UNSC has thus failed both to provide a political solution and to deter further Israeli operations with humanitarian impacts.

Collaborative Governance of Local Administrative Organizations for Early Childhood Development Centers in Nakornprathom Province

Pimmart Kongchuensin — 2025-12-03

This study’s findings on the collaborative governance of child development centers in Nakhon Pathom Province which reveal several key points. Due to the province's socio-economic transition, influenced by urbanization, has led to a significant shift from agricultural to industrial occupations, many parents now work outside the home, leaving the responsibility of child-rearing to grandparents. This has resulted in a lack of knowledge and skills among parents, leading to difficulties in appropriately caring for children according to their developmental needs. As a result, the burden of early childhood care falls on child development centers, which are managed by local administrative organizations. However, since raising and developing young children is a complex and sensitive issue, it requires expertise from various fields and the active participation of multiple social levels.

The study also found that the roles of agencies involved in education management at child development centers, within the framework of collaborative governance, are relatively limited. Local administrative organizations hold direct authority over aspects such as budget and personnel management, as well as general administration, but require cooperation from various networks for academic management. This process is characterized by network governance, where independent actors from different sectors collaborate based on interpersonal relationships and shared expertise. However, there are no formal rules governing this cooperation; instead, it operates through the willingness of network partners, under the provisions of the law.

The success of this collaborative governance, including public participation and effective outcomes, largely depends on the leadership’s ability to foster cooperation, along with their governance capabilities and competence.

Implementation of Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) in Bangkok Metropolitan Administration

Sikarn Issarachaiyos — 2025-12-03

Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB) received significant attention in 2023, emerging as a key policy campaigned for at both national and local government levels, including the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA). ZBB is a budgeting system that requires agencies to plan their budgets without referencing prior or current year allocations, establishing a "zero base," to the next year’s budget plan. The primary objectives of ZBB are to encourage agencies to "rethink" and "re-evaluate" their projects or activities, to be able to provide a clear justification for every project/activity, as well as to prioritize them. Theoretically, ZBB promotes more efficient and effective budget management within organizations.

This is a descriptive research that aims to explore the initial experiences of implementing ZBB in the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, which is the first public agency in Thailand to apply this budget format under the leadership of Associate Professor Dr. Chadchart Sittipunt, the Governor of Bangkok. Additionally, the study examines some initial challenges and obstacles encountered the BMA during its ZBB implementation. This research utilized qualitative research methods, including documentary research and semi-structured in-depth interviews with key administrators and practitioners involved in the application of ZBB within the BMA. The study finds that the BMA has adopted ZBB in a hybrid model, integrating it with the existing performance-based budgeting (PBB) system. Besides, ZBB was applied specifically to the "Other Expenditures" category, and 27 budgeting criteria were removed to enable the adoption of ZBB. This utilization of ZBB helped the BMA save approximately 240.9 million baht from its budget. Nonetheless, several issues were identified during the first year of ZBB implementation. This includes (1) legal and regulatory constraints related to BMA's budgeting framework, (2) limited understanding and adaptability among personnel, (3) internal communication challenges, (4) technological and innovation-related limitations, and (5) increased administrative workload and tight timelines in the budgeting process.

Enhancing the Quality of Local Election Strategies through Public Participation and the Design Thinking Process: A Case Study of Pathum Thani Province

Mana Patchimnan — 2025-12-03

Local elections in Thailand still face persistent problems such as vote buying, lack of transparency, and insufficient public understanding of citizens’ roles in political participation, especially in semi-urban and semi-rural areas like Pathum Thani Province, which has diverse social and economic characteristics. The research therefore focuses on developing high-quality local election strategies through citizen participation using the Design Thinking process, which consists of five stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. The study employs Participatory Action Research (PAR) with a sample of 60 stakeholders. The findings reveal that the development of high-quality local election strategies through citizen participation can be conceptualized into three principal

approaches: (1) the cultivation of civic consciousness, (2) the promotion of youth engagement, and (3) the enhancement of mechanisms for political accountability. Collectively, these strategies provide a transferable model that can be adapted to other localities, thereby contributing to the reinforcement of grassroots democracy.