Intraregional Disparities in Northeastern Thailand. A contribution to the internal differentiation of a peripheral region

Abstract With the lowest population density and the highest percentage of agricultural households Isan lies economically far behind the core areas of Thailand. Internal analysis, however, shows that the region is by no means as homogeneous as the externally oriented perspective seems to reflect. Rather, the area shows intraregional disparities whose relative scale is likewise considerable. A small-scale comparison on the level of the amphoe (districts) reveals a spatial pattern of different subregions whose organisation follows a central-peripheral and a point-axial principle. It clarifies three types of subregions between which broad transitional zones are to be found. Agro-economic possibilities and the modem transport infrastructure thereby form the two fundamental determinants of this internal regional differentiation in Isan.