Democracy and Nationalism in Southeast Asia
From Secessionist Mobilization to Conflict Resolution

A unique, comparative-historical analysis of the impact of democratization on five nationalist conflicts in Southeast Asia.

Jacques Bertrand (Author)

9781108491280, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 April 2021

280 pages
15 x 23 x 1.5 cm, 0.58 kg

'… a seminal account of how democracy conditions the struggles of minority nations … essential reading for those familiar with Asian politics seeking to understand con?icts, as well as experts on con?ict seeking to understand these cases.' Shane Joshua Barter, Paci?c Affairs

Jacques Bertrand offers a comparative-historical analysis of five nationalist conflicts over several decades in Southeast Asia. Using a theoretical framework to explain variance over time and across cases, he challenges and refines existing debates on democracy's impact and shows that, while democratization significantly reduces violent insurgency over time, it often introduces pernicious effects that fail to resolve conflict and contribute to maintaining deep nationalist grievances. Drawing on years of detailed fieldwork, Bertrand analyses the paths that led from secessionist mobilization to a range of outcomes. These include persistent state repression for Malay Muslims in Thailand, low level violence under a top-down 'special autonomy' for Papuans, reframing of mobilizing from nationalist to indigenous peoples in the Cordillera, a long and broken path to an untested broad autonomy for the Moros and relatively successful broad autonomy for Acehnese.

1. Introduction
2. Nationalist conflict in democratic contexts
3. Aceh: from violent insurgency to broad-based autonomy
4. Papua: failed autonomy and divided they stand
5. Moros of Mindanao: the long and treacherous path to 'Bangsamoro' autonomy
6. 'Exit and reframe': from Cordillera 'nation' to 'indigenous peoples'
7. Malay Muslims in Thailand
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Nationalism [JPFN], Comparative politics [JPB], Asian history [HBJF]