Contesting Forms of Knowledge in Policy Deliberation Lessons from Disaster Coping Policies in Thailand

Abstract

This article presents the case of policy deliberation on disaster coping strategies in Bangkok, Thailand. It demonstrates the challenges scientists faced when they sought to influence policymaking on flood mitigation. The article demonstrates different forms of knowledge that shaped Bangkok’s flood policy, and explains how lay knowledge promoted by farmers, local communities, and Buddhist monks were successful in persuading policymakers and the wider public in their preferred policy option. Meanwhile, scientific knowledge failed to make their case in public forums, and on some occasions, even alienated Thai citizens. The article concludes by drawing lessons on how scientific and lay knowledge can better contest as well as connect their claims to enrich the process and outcomes of public deliberation on disaster coping policy.