Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia: An Introduction to Governments and Political Regimes

453 Pages·2018·12 MB·English

by  Aurel Croissant

Aurel Croissant
Philip Lorenz
Comparative
Politics of
Southeast Asia
An Introduction to Governments
and Political Regimes
Comparative Politics of Southeast Asia
Aurel Croissant (cid:129) Philip Lorenz
Comparative Politics
of Southeast Asia
An Introduction to Governments
and Political Regimes
AurelCroissant PhilipLorenz
InstituteofPoliticalScience InstituteofPoliticalScience
HeidelbergUniversity HeidelbergUniversity
Heidelberg,Germany Heidelberg,Germany
ISBN978-3-319-68181-8 ISBN978-3-319-68182-5 (eBook)
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To our students.
Acknowledgments
During our courses on different aspects of Southeast Asian politics, we often
wished we could recommend a single chapter to our students to prepare for their
presentations and papers on a given country. The fact that such chapters did not
exist is the ultimate reason for this textbook. It is a considerably revised and
updated version of a German book published by Aurel Croissant in 2015, and we
hopeitwillnowbeusefultopoliticalscientists,journalists,areaexperts,andothers
everywhere.
PreparingthismanuscriptforpublicationwebenefittedfromthehelpofStephan
Giersdorf, who contributed to the original draft of the Malaysia chapter; Thomas
Wencker, who drew the maps; Rebecca Abu Sharkh, who served as the native
English language editor; and Susanne Schneider and Janika Lohse, who helped
preparethebibliography.Wearegratefulfortheirhelp.
While wedidourbest toavoidanyformaland factual errors andinaccuracies,
somewillinevitablyremaininthetext.Weencouragethereader,tohelpusfindand
correctthem.
Since this book is ultimately the result of teaching Southeast Asian politics, a
partofourjobsweboththoroughlyenjoy,wededicatethisbooktoourstudents.
vii
Contents
1 GovernmentandPoliticalRegimesinSoutheastAsia:
AnIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 CountriesandCulturesofSoutheastAsia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 SoutheastAsiainColonialTimes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 SoutheastAsiaSincetheEndofWesternColonialism. . . . . . 6
1.4 TheStructureofThisBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2 BruneiDarussalam:MalayIslamicMonarchyandRentierState. . . . 15
2.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 17
2.2 ConstitutionalDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5 PoliticalPartiesandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 StateAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.7 Civil–MilitaryRelationsandtheSecuritySector. . . . . . .. . . . 26
2.8 CivilSocietyandMediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.9 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3 Cambodia:FromUN-LedPeace-BuildingtoPost-Genocidal
Authoritarianism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 37
3.2 ConstitutionalDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
3.6 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
3.7 StateAdministrationandDecentralization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.8 Civil–MilitaryRelationsandtheSecuritySector. . . . . . .. . . . 56
3.9 PoliticalCultureandCivilSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.10 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.11 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
ix
x Contents
4 Indonesia:ChallengesofConflictandConsensusintheEra
ofReformasi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 73
4.2 ConstitutionalHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3.1 HeadofStateandGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3.2 ParliamentandLegislativeProcess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.3 OtherAgenciesofHorizontalAccountability. . . . . . . 85
4.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.6 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
4.7 StateAdministrationandDecentralization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.8 Civil–MilitaryRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.9 CivilSocietyandPatternsofPoliticalOrientations. . . . . . . . . 99
4.9.1 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
4.10 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 Laos:TheTransformationofPeripherySocialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 115
5.2 ConstitutionalDevelopmentandPrinciples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
5.3 SystemofGovernmentandtheSocialistPartyState. . . . . . . . 121
5.4 PoliticalParties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 123
5.5 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
5.6 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
5.7 StateandDecentralization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.8 Civil–MilitaryRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
5.9 CivilSocietyandMediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.10 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
6 Malaysia:CompetitiveAuthoritarianisminaPluralSociety. . . . . 141
6.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 143
6.2 ConstitutionalHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.3.1 HeadofState. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
6.3.2 TheLegislature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
6.3.3 Government. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
6.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
6.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
6.6 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
6.7 Federalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
6.8 Civil–MilitaryRelationsandtheSecuritySector. . . . . . .. . . . 164
6.9 PoliticalCultureandCivilSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.10 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Contents xi
6.11 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
7 Myanmar:TheChallengingTransitionfromMilitary
toDemocraticGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
7.1 HistoricalBackgroundandCurrentPoliticalChallenges. . . . . 179
7.2 ConstitutionalHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
7.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
7.3.1 HeadofStateandGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
7.3.2 Legislature. . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . 188
7.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
7.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
7.6 PartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
7.7 StateAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
7.8 Civil-MilitaryRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7.9 PoliticalCulture,CivilSociety,andMediaSystem. . . . . . . . . 202
7.10 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
8 Philippines:PeoplePowerandDefectiveEliteDemocracy. . . . . . . 213
8.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 215
8.2 ConstitutionalDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
8.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
8.3.1 HeadofStateandGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
8.3.2 Congress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
8.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
8.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
8.6 PartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
8.7 StateAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
8.8 Civil–MilitaryRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
8.9 PoliticalCultureandCivilSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
8.10 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
8.11 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
9 Singapore:ContradictingConventionalWisdomsAbout
Authoritarianism,State,andDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
9.1 HistoricalBackground. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. 257
9.2 ConstitutionalHistory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
9.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
9.3.1 President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
9.3.2 PrimeMinisterandCabinet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9.3.3 Parliament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
9.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
9.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
xii Contents
9.6 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
9.7 StateAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
9.8 Civil–MilitaryRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
9.9 PoliticalCultureandCivilSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
9.10 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
9.11 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
10 Thailand:TheViciousCycleofCivilianGovernment
andMilitaryRule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
10.1 HistoricalBackground.. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. 293
10.2 ConstitutionalDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
10.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
10.3.1 HeadofState. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
10.3.2 TheExecutiveandLegislature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
10.3.3 MechanismsofHorizontalAccountability
andWatchdogOrganizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
10.4 LegalSystemandJudiciary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
10.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
10.6 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
10.7 StateAdministration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
10.8 Civil–MilitaryRelations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
10.9 PoliticalCultureandCivilSociety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
10.10 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
10.11 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
11 Timor-Leste:ChallengesofCreatingaDemocraticandEffective
State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
11.1 HistoricalBackground.. . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . .. 333
11.2 ConstitutionalDevelopment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
11.3 SystemofGovernment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
11.3.1 President. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
11.3.2 PrimeMinisterandCouncilofMinisters. . . . . . . . . . 341
11.3.3 Parliament. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
11.3.4 InteractionsBetweenPresidency,Cabinet,
andLegislature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
11.4 LegalandJudicialSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
11.5 ElectoralSystemandElections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
11.6 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
11.7 StateAdministrationandStateness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
11.8 Civil–MilitaryRelationsandSecurityGovernance. . . . . . . . . 355
11.9 CivilSociety.. . . .. . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. 357
11.10 MediaSystem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
11.11 Outlook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361