Limits to Environmental Policy Implementation. The Case of User Charge Implementation in Thailand

Abstract

Implementation research is an almost ‘unknown quantity’ Thailand. This research project explores the implementation of the user charge for waste water treatment in three cities with limited success. The bureaucratic complexity is mostly very high; it is reduced by a socio-economic local elite. The implementation often happens within a double structure of the State on the one hand the ‘rational legitimate state’, on the other, a configuration that resembles a ‘traditional organic state authority’. Legal authority and responsibilities are unclear. There are no implementation guidelines or proper programs. The management and costing of the user charge is often arbitrary which leads to court cases. The deficiencies of the implementation might be ‘compensated’ by capacity building. However, in a broader context than the user charge, the authors argue that a triple paradigm shift - from (i) a traditional to modern polity, (ii) command and control to economic policy instruments, (iii) centralized to decentralized forms of government - lead to an overload of the policy arena and policy implementation failures. These are due to missing skills, knowledge and expertise on the part of central government actors and agencies, and to the ‘unpreparedness’ of the ‘local actors’ and the prevalence of tradition. This message is particularly relevant because almost all countries of the Region have engaged in public administration reforms.