SOUTHEAST ASIA'S DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT (original) (raw)

Democracy in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is sub region consists from 11 (United States Trade Representative n.d.) countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, with 620 million population, which is 20% more than EU . This dynamic region is a center of global commerce and finance, and possesses strategically important location. For example: Strait of Malacca that is straight shipping channel between Indian Oceans and Pacific Ocean. Political system and democracy level alter among Southeast Asian nations. Indonesia seems the most stable democracy in the region. Since 2003 to 2004 , Indonesia and Philippines made an effort on democracy carrying, however which lacks moral credibility. Southeast Asian democratic development facing many challenges including military armed forces, political turmoil, political opposition. In the middle of democratization process some states reversed back and goes continuance under the authoritarian regime ruling.

The Limits and Potential of Liberal Democratisation in Southeast Asia

Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 2014

This article argues that Southeast Asia is a region where uneven political development presents a theoretical challenge to the study of regime change and continuity in the academic field of comparative politics. Of the 11 political regimes, only Timor-Leste, the Philippines, and Indonesia can now be considered liberally democratic. However, these democracies are far from consolidated. The other eight regimes range from soft dictatorships to electoral authoritarian regimes and illiberal democracies. This article seeks to explain why no single theory adequately explains regime change and continuity in this region. Impediments to democratisation are many – one of which is the fact that traditional and undemocratic institutions remain strong and that transitions to civilian rule remain vulnerable to other powerful state institutions, most notably the armed forces.

southeast asia: a community of diversity

The region known as the Southeast provides the basis for a broad political community characterized by cultural and ethnic diversity, disparities in economic performance, and differences in regime and constitutional foundations. In recent years, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) group of nations has made strides toward building a community based on respect for these differences. Despite a growing acceptance for democratic processes and human rights, the influence of these values over existing institutions and state behavior remains incomplete. The future development of the ASEAN region, and the nations that comprise it, is likely to be based on the strength and character of the relationships these states forge with one another and with more powerful external actors.

Setting the Scene: Driving Forces of Change in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia is made up of 11 countries with a total population in 2008 of around 584 million people. Geographically, Southeast Asia consists of two geographical regions: the mainland and the archipelago. Mainland Southeast Asia consists of Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and the Malaysian peninsular; while archipelagic Southeast Asia comprises Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysian Borneo, the Philippines and Singapore. The area includes some of the most densely populated regions in the world with ...

Political space in Southeast Asia: ‘Asian‐style’ and other democracies

Democratization, 2007

Southeast Asia exhibits a remarkable range of political forms. This study examines the resiliency of Southeast Asian struggles to expand political space and replace authoritarianism with more representative political regimes. Following an introduction examining these struggles during the colonial and post-colonial periods, attention is given to the notion of 'Asian-style' democracy. It is suggested that this terminology represents a rejection of liberalism and of associated western-style democratic values. Malaysia and Singapore are cited as examples of illiberal approaches to political space, democratization and representation by the ruling parties. In contrast, Thailand and Indonesia are examples of recent democratization, which have more to do with popular struggles for expanded political space than with elite notions of 'Asian-style' democracy. There are some reasons for optimism regarding further democratization, or at least for the maintenance and expansion of political space, in the region as a whole. Southeast Asia is a diverse region and exhibits a remarkable range of political forms: absolute monarchy (Brunei), authoritarian post-socialist regimes (Vietnam, Laos), military-dominated dictatorship (Burma), crumbling authoritarianism (Indonesia), electoral authoritarianism (Singapore, Malaysia), various versions of elected representative governments (Thailand, the Philippines) and the unclassifiable oddity of Cambodia. 1 This study could not hope to do justice to the expanse of political expression in the countries of the region. Rather, the intention is to suggest the significance of some of the Southeast Asian experience for understanding the long history and resiliency of the struggles to expand political space and replace authoritarianism with more representative political regimes. Often the struggle to establish democratic or representative forms in Southeast Asia is seen to have been relatively recent, 2 and as indicated in the Introduction to this collection, there is a degree of pessimism regarding democratization in Southeast Asia. However, if attention is moved to the existence and expansion of political space, then the Southeast Asian experience during the 1980s and 1990s is cause for limited optimism. The term 'political space' is employed in preference to civil society; it is an The author thanks Andrew Brown and Paul Healy for comments and suggestions.

Political Regimes Cartography of Southeast Asia in Last Decade

Southeast Asia is Asia sub region, consisting of the countries south of China, east of India, and north of Australia. Southeast Asia consists of two major geographic land, the mainland peninsula in which Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. While Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Timor Leste, and Brunei as a part of the island arcs or well known as maritime countries. However, even Southeast Asia geographically divided into two big groups, all countries become one as ASEAN (Except Timor Leste). ASEAN is inter-governmental organization in which all the members agree on one vision and mission even they have a different political regimes and values of system. When we turn out to Southeast Asia political regimes, we could see the fails correspondence between politics and others element (economic, security, social, and culture) within the system. Indeed, politics in Southeast Asia confounds almost all attempts at generalization. It contains an unusual diversity of regime types, ranging from nominally Communist one-party states in Vietnam and Laos, dominant-party autocracies in Cambodia, quasi-democracies in Malaysia and Singapore, a military in Thailand, an absolute monarchy in Brunei, the transitional but still military-dominated case of Myanmar, and finally three cases of multi-party democracy, with varying degrees of effectiveness, in Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor Leste. By this article the authors would like to give an overview of the political values to each country in Southeast Asia, as well as the reason, background, and history behind it. We also tried to analyze each country one by one to proof that the Southeast Asia has their own style of political regimes compare to western style.