The redesign of a strategic framework : a case study of the Thai-Myanmar policy collaboration

Abstract

We live in the world today that is increasingly becoming more interlinked and interdependent among each other resulting in complex and dynamic socio-political situations. In such context, any development strategies and policies of one country can have both a direct and indirect impact not only upon its neighboring countries, but also the sub-region or the whole region where that country is located. Due to the intense connectedness, a concept of collaboration has gained much attention in field of international relations and politics as well as policy analysis.

This paper engages in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (Dawei SEZ), a development project standing upon the collaboration between Thailand and Myanmar, taking a form of case study research for the purpose of analyzing and comprehending a process of inter-country collaboration and the key drivers of the collaboration.

This dissertation aims to study the progress of the policy development of the Dawei SEZ project during 2008 to 2016 in a systematic way and tries to identify the key drivers of the collaboration and the determinants of effective implementation by following the loop of policy development. Employing relevant theoretical lenses, the study ultimately aims to develop a theoretical framework that can provide the comprehensive explanation with regards to the ongoing development of the Dawei SEZ policy.

The research is academically valuable by filling the gap between theory and practice on policy development. Also, it would help policymaker in the Thai government to understand the situations and critical elements that help support the collaboration over the Dawei SEZ project (and similarly) in the future. A qualitative case study is applied with an adoption of action research as a guiding methodology. With the purpose of unfolding complexity of the phenomenon, primarily takes different qualitative data collecting te

The paper explained the policy development in two periods, both of which were situated in the steps of policy formulation and partial implementation. The policy development could be explained according to two sub-cycles in two periods: the first period between 2008 and 2011 with a highlight on the policy initiative driven by strong political decisions, and the second policy period between 2012 and 2016 with a focus on reorganizing the institutional design and collaboration for the phased development. The findings confirmed the explanatory power of all parameters engaged in the model of collaborative governance by Ansell and Gash (2008); namely, starting conditions, institutional design, collaborative process, facilitative leadership. Furthermore, the study also highlighted the significance of three additional factors as enablers that could explain the emergence and continuation of the Dawei SEZ policy collaborated between Myanmar and Thailand. They are: a role of policy manager, cross-cultural complementary and regional cooperation force.

Among the three components in the strategic triangle model by Moore (1995), the case suggested to re-emphasize at the public value performance first, especially when a level of risk of the policy environment is high. Once the value is reaffirmed, a level of political support on the policy would be raised while the reallocation of resources for the project’s execution would be facilitated by the strong decisions and determination to pursue the project.

At the end, this dissertation offered the policy recommendation in order for the Thai government to undertake some actions advised by the results of the study. In preparation for the next phase of policy development, the actions to be taken by the Thai government should cover the areas: 1) To highlight the most strategic values of the project 2) To articulate and communicate the strategic values and the policy regarding the Dawei SEZ project into the national development strategy 3) To increase legitimacy and political support of the project and 4) To improve the organizational capacity.