Pongboonjun, Songkrant2023-08-0920232023-08-09http://hdl.handle.net/1828/15243This research is about the interaction between various stakeholders in environmental movements in Thailand after adopting the 1997 Constitution-known as the People’s Constitution. Although academics have acclaimed this Constitution in recognizing environmental rights, few scholars have studied how it changes environmental movements afterward. This research tries to fill this gap in the literature. The study examines how citizens and public interest environmental lawyers employed new legal opportunities to protect the environment. The study examines how lawyers and communities tailor new legal rights into legal strategies and how they create changes inside state institutions, such as legal precedents and policies. This research also highlights how legal strategies bring about change outside state institutions, such as how they impact public awareness, support ongoing movements and change stakeholders’ legal consciousness. In addition, the research identifies key factors contributing to effective legal strategy. I adopt the concept of law as negotiated practices developed by law and society scholars as a theoretical framework. The main idea is that the state does not exclusively create and impose laws on citizens. In contrast, many parties, including citizens, play a crucial part in constructing law in various stages. Sometimes, some stakeholders may have a more decisive influence in drafting, passing, applying, interpreting, implementing, and challenging a given law, but no stakeholder always dominate the whole process. As a result, the law is dynamic and subject to negotiation. Perceiving the law from this perspective, the study examines how environmental rights have been transformed into practice in Thailand, where the idea of the rule of law has not yet been established. This research concludes that environmental rights and legal strategies empower environmental movements to better advocate for the environment, health and livelihood. At the same time, the empowered movements enable the Thai legal system to create significant change in advancing environmental rights. In other words, environmental rights and environmental movements empower each other to achieve what they have never achieved before, creating a cycle of empowerment.enAvailable to the World Wide WebEnvironmental RightsEnvironmental CasesEnvironmenal MovementsLaw and Social MovementsPublic Interest Environmental LawyersThai Environmental CasesEnvironmental Rights and Community EmpowermentLegal Strategies and Social ChangeThesis