The Duality of Khukhan’s Political Development during the 19th- 20th Centuries

Abstract

This article aims to study the political development of Khukhan and tries to understand the history of the area through James C. Scott’s idea of State Evasion. The article suggests that the geography of the Khukhan area, which is located on a plain next to the Phanom Dongrek mountain range, had influenced the habitat and social development of its population into a form of duality. While there were a variety of cities, there also existed state–evading societies inhabiting the area. The political changes in the region around the 14^th century led the area into a vacuum of power, which dwarfed the city communities but empowered the state–evading societies, resulting in a fragmented political landscape without a single group of dominant local rulers. When Siam expanded its influence in the region around the late 19^th century and endowed Khukhan as a feudal city to control the area, this element of duality caused the politics of Khukhan to become fragmented and ambiguous. Stability began to emerge when Siam sought to tighten its grip on power after Anuwong’s war. The process gave more power to the ruler of Khukhan but also led to the assimilation into Siam, like other cities in Northeastern Thailand.