Southeast Asia-Political Structure

AHMAD SHAH BIN PAKEER MOHAMED

 GDP per capita
Country Area (km2) Population(2009) Density (/km2) GDP USD (2009) Capital
(2009)

 Brunei 5,765 428,000 70 10,405,000,000 $25,386 Bandar Seri Begawan

 Burma 676,578 50,020,000 74 34,262,000,000 $571 Naypyidaw

 Cambodia 181,035 14,805,000 82 10,871,000,000 $768 Phnom Penh

 East Timor 14,874 1,134,000 76 590,000,000 $542 Dili

 Indonesia 1,904,569 240,271,522 126 539,377,000,000 $2,329 Jakarta

 Laos 236,800 6,320,000 27 5,598,000,000 $886 Vientiane

 Malaysia 329,847 28,318,000 83 192,955,000,000 $8,100 Kuala Lumpur

 Philippines 300,000 91,983,000 307 160,991,000,000 $1,745 Manila

 Singapore 710.2 5,076,700 7,023 182,231,000,000 $36,379 Singapore

 Thailand 513,120 67,764,000 132 312,605,000,000 $4,643 Bangkok

 Vietnam 331,210 88,069,000 265 93,164,000,000 $1,068 Hanoi

Philippines

• Spanish/American colonialism.
• 1946-Independence from US.
• 1965-Election of Marcos
• 1972-Martial law
• 1983-Benigno Aquino assassinated.
• 1986-People power revolution.
• Cory Aquino becomes president.
Some sources

Wurfel, David. 1991. Filipino politics:

Development and decay. Cornell Univ Press.
Anderson, Benedict. 1988. “Cacique Democracy
in the Philippines: Origins and Dreams.” New
Left Review I (160) (June): 3–33.
Hutchcroft, P. D, and J. Rocamora. 2003.
“Strong demands and weak institutions: The
origins and evolution of the democratic deficit in
the Philippines.” Journal of East Asian Studies
3: 259–292.
Indonesia

• Dutch colonialism.
• 1945-1950-Indonesian revolution.
• 1950-Independence.
• 1957-‘Guided democracy’.
• 1965-Coup, counter coup?
• “New Order” authoritarian rule by Suharto.
• 1997-Asian Financial Crisis.
• 1998-Fall of Suharto.
Some sources

Crouch, Harold. 2010. Political reform in Indonesia

after Soeharto. Singapore: ISEAS Publishing.
Hadiz, V. R. 2004. “Decentralization and
democracy in Indonesia: a critique of neo-
institutionalist perspectives.” Development and
Change 35 (4): 697–718.
Slater, Dan. 2004. “Indonesia’s Accountability
Trap: Party Cartels and Presidential Power After
Democratic Transition.” Indonesia (78) (October):
61-92.
Timor L’este
• 1972-Portuguese colony.
• 1975-Declares independence but is invaded and
occupied by Indonesia.
• 1991-Santa Cruz Massacre
• 1996-Ramos Horta and Bishop Belo receive
Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1998-After fall of Suharto, President Habibie
allows referendum.
• 1999-Independence.
Some sources

Taylor, John G. c1991. Indonesia’s forgotten war the

hidden history of East Timor. London, Atlantic
Highlands, N.J., USA, Leichhardt, NSW, Australia:
Zed Books. Pluto Press Australia.
Kammen, Douglas. 2001. The Trouble With Normal:
The Indonesian Military, Paramilitaries, and the Final
Solution to East Timor. In , ed. Benedict Anderson.
Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program Publications.
Robinson, G. 2009. “ If you leave us here, we will
die”: how genocide was stopped in East Timor.
Princeton Univ Pr.
Burma (Myanmar)

Colonized by the British.

1947-Aung San and six members of interim
government are assassinated.
1948-Burma becomes independent state.
1962-Military coup by Ne Win.
1988 - Demonstrations and major crackdown.
1990-NLD wins elections, results ignored.
1991-Suu Kyii wins Nobel Peace Prize.
Present: SPDC still retains power.
Some Sources

• Taylor, R. 1987. The State in Burma. University

of Hawaii Press.

• Callahan, M. P. 2004. Making Enemies: war

and state building in Burma. NUS Press.
Malaysia

• British colonial rule.

• 1948-British continue rule.
• 1957-British allow independence.
• 1963-Decolonization of Sabah,
Sarawak, and Singapore.
• 1965-Singapore withdraws.
• 1969-Race riot.
• 1971-National Economic Policy
(NEP)
• 1981-Mahathir becomes PM.
Some sources

• Andaya, Barbara Watson, and Leonard Y

Andaya. 2001. A History of Malaysia.
Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press.

• Case, W. 1993. “Semi-democracy in Malaysia:

withstanding the pressures for regime change.”
Pacific Affairs 66 (2): 183–205.
 Singapore

British Colonial Rule.

1959-Lee Kuan Yew becomes PM.
1963-Enters federation with
Malaysia.
1965-Breaks off from Malaysia and
becomes a republic.
1990-Yew steps down, Goh Chock
Toh new PM.
2004-Lee Hsien Loong (eldest son
on Lee Kuan Yew) becomes PM.
Some sources

• Means, Gordon Paul. 1996. “Soft

Authoritarianism in Malaysia and Singapore.”
Journal of Democracy 7 (4): 103-117.

• Lingle, C. 1996. Singapore’s authoritarian

capitalism: Asian values, free market illusions,
and political dependency. Edicions Sirocco
(Barcelona and Fairfax, VA).
Brunei Darrussalam

• 1888-Brunei becomes British protectorate.

• 1929-Oil Extraction begins.
• 1959-First written constitution, makes Islam
state religion, British responsible for defense
and foreign affairs.
• 1963-Brunei opts to remain a British
dependency rather than join Malaysia.
• 1984-Brunei becomes independent nation.
 Thailand

• 1782-Beginning of Chakri Dynasty.

• 1932-Constitutional Monarchy.
• 1947-Military coup.
• 1991-Anand Panyarachun becomes PM.
• 1997-Financial Crisis
• 2001-Thaksin Shinawatra wins PM.
• 2006-Military coup.
• 2008-now: Red-shirt yellow shirts.
Sources

Baker, Chris Phongpaichit Pasuk. 2005. A History

of Thailand. Port Melbourne, Vic., Australia ; New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Riggs, F. W. 1966. Thailand: The modernization of
a bureaucratic polity. East-West Center Press.
Anderson, Benedict. 1990. “Murder and Progress in
Modern Siam.” New Left Review I (June): 33–48.
Winachakul, Thongchai. 1997. Siam Mapped: A
History of the Geo-Body of a Nation. University of
Hawaii Press.
 Vietnam

• French colonial rule.

• 1954: First Indo-china war ends with fall of Dien
Bien Phu.
• 1954-1975: Second Indo-china war
• 1968-Tet offensive.
• 1973: Cease fire and US pull out.
• 1975: North invades South
• 1976: Socialist Republic or Vietnam proclaimed.
Sources

• Popkin, Samuel L. c1979. The rational peasant

the political economy of rural society in
Vietnam. Berkeley: University of California
Press.

• Kerkvliet, Benedict J. 2005. The power of

everyday politics: How Vietnamese peasants
transformed national policy. Cornell Univ
Press.
 Cambodia

French colonial rule.

1953-Independence.
1965-Breaks of relations with US, allies
with N. Vietnam.
1975-Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot take
power. Killing fields.
1979-Vietnam invades and deposes
Khmer Rouge.
1985-Hun Sen becomes PM.
1991-Paris Peace Accords.
Sources

• Chandler, D. P. 1992. A history of Cambodia.

Westview Press Boulder, CO.

• Kiernan, B. 2002. The Pol Pot regime: race,

power, and genocide in Cambodia under the
Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. Yale Univ Pr.
 Laos

French colonial rule.

1954-Independence to Constitutional
Monarchy.

1960s-Theatre for war during Indo-China

wars.

1975-Monarchy is deposed and replaced by

socialist government in 1975 (Pathet Lao).
Questions and Debates

• Some scholars lament the lack of democracy in

Southeast Asia.

• Some scholars try to understand the variation in

political systems.

• Some scholars try to understand why democracy

is spreading. What stands in its path?
Democracy

• Participation

• Competition.

• Protection of civil and political rights.

Authoritarianism

One or a small group of individuals exercise

power over the state.

Government is not constitutionally responsible

to the public

Public has little or no role in selecting leaders.

Severe limits on individual freedoms.

Kinds of Authoritarianism

Personal Rule

Military Rule

One-Party Rule

Theocracy

Illiberal Regimes
Sources of Democracy and Authoritarianism in
SE Asia

• Cultural explanations

• Economic explanations
Cultural Explanation for Democracy

• ‘Western Culture’ is somehow well suited for

democracy.

• Because of its individualism and non-

hierarchical social structure.

• A ‘Spirit of Capitalism.’
Asian Values

• Loyalty to the family.

• Community over individual.

▫ Development and security over individual rights.

• Consensus over majority rule.

• Importance of social harmony.

The Asian Values Debate

• Articulated by Asia’s leaders.

• West vs. East

• Western ‘decay’ vs. Asian growth.

• Human rights.
Problems with Asian Values

• Plenty of Asian dissenters.

• More and more Asian democracies.

▫ Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia

• Thompson, Mark. 2001. “Whatever Happened

to ‘Asian Values’?” Journal of Democracy 12 (4)
(October 1): 154-165.
Cultural Diversity and Authoritarianism

• Asian values suggests that all Asians have

something in common.

• But Southeast Asia is diverse in culture.

• Authoritarianism arises because of this

diversity.
Economic Explanations for Authoritarianism

There is a relationship between economic

growth and democracy/authoritarianism.

Rich countries tend to be more democratic.

WHY?

Recall that many of the arguments against

democracy occurred during economic growth…
Middle Class and Democracy
• Richer countries have capitalist middle class.

• Middle class is more educated, able to articulate,

and interested in political rights.

• “No Middle Class, No Democracy.”

Middle Class and Democracy
• Moore, Barrington. 1966. Social origins of
dictatorship and democracy lord and peasant in
the making of the modern world. Boston:
Beacon Press.

• Sidel, John. 2008. “Social Origins of

Dictatorship and Democracy: Colonial State and
Chinese Immigrant in the Making of Modern
Southeast Asia.” Journal of Comparative
Politics.
Social Origins 2008
Rise of a middle class in itself does not guarantee
democracy. It is determined by the “degree of vigor and
independence of a country's bourgeoisie.”

No middle class: Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam

Dependent middle class: Singapore, Brunei.
Assimilated middle class: Thailand, Philippines
Middle Class + and Democracy
• Maybe the middle class are “contingent
democrats.”

• In other words, they will join when it suits them

and they will ally with other sectors such as the
working class.

• How do we understand the Philippines? Or how

do we understand Singapore?
“Supply Side” arguments
• Some argue that it is about the elites.

• Regimes change when there is elite disunity.

• Regimes are stable when there is elite unity.

• Case, William. 2002. Politics in Southeast Asia:

Democracy or Less. Routledge Press.
Democracies
• Democracy
▫ Philippines (low-quality), Thailand
(unconsolidated)
• Semi Democracy
▫ Singapore, Malaysia
• Pseudo Democracy
▫ Indonesia
• Hard Authoritarian
▫ Burma?
THANK YOU