Transparency And Authoritarian Rule In Southeast Asia

In Transparency and Authoritarian Rule in Southeast Asia, Rodan rejects the notion that the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis was further evidence that ultimately capitalism can only develop within liberal social and political institutions, and that new technology necessarily undermines authoritarian control. Instead, Rodan argues that in Singapore and Malaysia external pressures for transparency reform were, and are, in many respects, being met without serious compromise to authoritarian rule or the sanctioning of media freedom.

This Element offers a way to understand the evolution of authoritarian rule in Southeast Asia. The theoretical framework is based on a set of indicators (judged for their known advantages and mimicry of democratic attributes) as well as a typology (conceptualized as two discreet categories of 'retrograde' and 'sophisticated' authoritarianism). Working with an original dataset, the empirical results reveal vast differences within and across authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia, but also a discernible shift towards sophisticated authoritarianism over time. The Element concludes with a reflection of its contribution and a statement on its generalizability.

This book rejects the notion that the 1997-98 Asian economic crisis was further evidence that ultimately capitalism can only develop within liberal social and political institutions.

Explores why authoritarian regimes bother to hold elections.

"This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on authoritarian persistence and its relation to popular opposition and protest. With its unique comparative analysis of regimes across Southeast Asia, this book uncovers important empirical information about political leadership and state-society relations in countries that have received relatively little attention in the scholarly literature, while simultaneously providing new theoretical insights of interest to scholars, practitioners, and the general public alike." - Teresa Wright, Chair and Professor, California State University Long Beach, USA "This book offers excellent insights into complex political developments and regime durability in Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Not only does the book make a contribution to the academic fields of comparative politics, political economy, and social movements, it is also well-written and accessible to anyone interested in Southeast Asian politics." - Sorpong Peou, Professor, Ryerson University, Canada "In this fascinating and timey intervention, Sokphea Young takes stock of the region's political landscape in a sobering account of the difficult path ahead. Insightful, engaging, and an urgent appeal for political change at a moment when Southeast Asia is quickly rising in global strategic and economic importance." - Simon Springer, Professor, University of Newcastle, Australia This book analyses how authoritarian rulers of Southeast Asian countries maintain their durability in office, and, in this context, explains why some movements of civil society organizations succeed while others fail to achieve their demands. It discusses the relationship between the state-society-business in the political survival context. As the first comparative analysis of strategies of regime survival across Southeast Asia, this book also provides an in-depth insight into the various opposition movements, and the behaviour of antagonistic civic and political actors in the region. Sokphea Young is a postdoctoral researcher at the University College London, UK. His research is published, variously, in Journal of International Relations and Development, Journal of Civil Society, Asian Politics and Policy, Asian Journal of Social Science, Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, the Chinese Journal of Comparative Law and South East Asia Research.

Based on a detailed study of 35 cases in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and post-communist Eurasia, this book explores the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes between 1990 and 2008. It finds that where social, economic, and technocratic ties to the West were extensive, as in Eastern Europe and the Americas, the external cost of abuse led incumbents to cede power rather than crack down, which led to democratization. Where ties to the West were limited, external democratizing pressure was weaker and countries rarely democratized. In these cases, regime outcomes hinged on the character of state and ruling party organizations. Where incumbents possessed developed and cohesive coercive party structures, they could thwart opposition challenges, and competitive authoritarian regimes survived; where incumbents lacked such organizational tools, regimes were unstable but rarely democratized.

Challenging Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia is one of the first substantial comparative studies of contemporary Indonesia and Malaysia, homes to the world's largest Muslim population. Following the collapse of New Order rule in Indonesia in 1998, this book provides an in-depth examination of anti-authoritarian forces in contemporary Indonesia and Malaysia, assessing their problems and prospects. The authors discuss the roles played by women, public intellectuals, arts workers, industrial workers as well as environmental and Islamic activists. They explore how different forms of authoritarianism in the two countries affect the prospects of democratization, and examine the impact and legacy of the diverse social and political protests in Indonesia and Malaysia in the late 1990s.