Nakhon Si Thammarat Province and Local Participation in the Process of Nominating Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple to be Inscribed on the World Heritage List

Abstract

This study aims to examine the process from 2009 to the present of nominating “Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan Temple, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province” to be Inscribed on the World Heritage List (March, 2021). The methods of the study include literature reviews, observations, interviews, and small group discussions. The results of the study reveal the government’s active roles in interpreting, controlling, and driving the directions of the process. Although civil society causes many conflicts in the process and proposes many alternatives, cooperation as specified by the government sector is provided. The existing relationship with the administration of the Thai bureaucracy confirms that the federal government and the provincial agencies hold the direct power to make decisions. The process of the proposal to the World Heritage Committee in Paris hardly involves the needs of civil society. The participation of the parties in the process was carried out in the middle of a controversy and argument. The suggestion drawn from the study is the urgent need to raise the roles of the civil society in the process.