Settlement and resettlement on marginal land: a case study from Thailand

Spontaneous land settlement has received less attention than planned schemes, and state policy on spontaneously cleared land is likewise neglected. A case study of a Thai resettlement scheme on land settled spontaneously illustrates the wider concern of heightened competition for marginal land. State policy and practice as revealed in the Tab Salao case shows the state as one of a number of actors in the local political economy of resource competition. The main resource in question is marginal land. Ambiguous tenure underlies the immediate problem of resettlement, but it also reflects the problematic role of the state as arbiter and manager of resources hitherto under vernacular forms of tenure.