Collaborative Border Management in Thailand and Neighboring Countries: Needs, Challenges and Issues

The purpose of this research is to study the characteristics of the problem that was an obstacle to the border crossing management along the border checkpoint between Thailand and its neighboring countries. Furthermore; the research aims to study an appropriate approach for the way in which border processing could be managed in the future. This research brings together the key elements of a holistic set of new approaches known as Collaborative Border Management (CBM)2, for the analysis of suitable approaches in Thailand. The research was conducted through qualitative data. This required in-depth interviews with the important authorities involved in the border management. The data was collected from the security agencies in the central and regional administration in the border checkpoint of two border areas; Aranyaprathet in SaKaew Province and Sadao in Songkhla Province. The results of this research showed that the main obstacles to the development of land border checkpoint in Thailand consists of five issues which are policy issues, process, people who lack management resources, the database and information technology, and the development of infrastructure in the border areas.