The Politics of Elections in Southeast AsiaR. H. Taylor Though most governments in Southeast Asia are widely described as authoritarian, elections have been a feature of politics in the region for many decades. This volume, bringing together eleven separate studies by leading authorities, examines the countries that have conducted multi-party elections since the 1940s and 1950s -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma/Myanmar, and Singapore. It identifies the common and distinguishing features of electoral politics in the region. The contributors to this volume, unlike most earlier students of politics in Southeast Asia, conclude that it is not something peculiar to the political culture of the region that shapes its political behavior. It is, rather, the same political forces and structures that shape politics in North America and Europe. |
Contents
Elections and politics in Southeast Asia | 1 |
Elections and participation in three Southeast Asian countries | 12 |
A useful fiction Democratic legitimation in New Order Indonesia | 34 |
Elections without representation The Singapore experience under the PAP | 61 |
Elections Janus face Limitations and potential in Malaysia | 90 |
Malaysia Do elections make a difference? | 114 |
Contested meanings of elections in the Philippines | 136 |
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Common terms and phrases
alliance areas Asian authoritarian ballot Bangkok bureaucracy Burma Cambodian campaign candidates Chinese civil colonial communist constituencies contest coup cultural decades democratic dominant economic elec elections in Southeast electoral politics electoral process electoral system elite ethnic factions favor Filipinos forces Funcinpec Goh Chok Tong Golkar government's groups Hun Sen ideological Indonesia institutions interests Islamic issues Kerkvliet Khmer Rouge leaders leadership Lee Kuan Yew legitimacy Mahathir major Malay Malaysia Manila Marcos ment middle class military Muslim NAMFREL non-Malay opposition parties organizations Pancasila Pancasila Democracy PAP's parliament parliamentary participation patron-client patrons People's percent Philippines political parties political system politicians polling popular population President prime minister provinces reform regime role rural voters seats Semangat 46 Singapore social society Southeast Asia Studies Suharto Sukarno Thai Thailand tions turnout UMNO University Press UNTAC urban village vote buying