The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia

This volume examines the countries in Southeast Asia that have conducted multi-party elections.

R. H. Taylor (Edited by)

9780521564434, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 13 July 1996

272 pages, 7 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.4 kg

'This is a timely, informative and highly readable collection of essays on the nature and role of elections in South East Asia. The ten essays provide both overview and detailed accounts of Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nyanmar, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.' Commonwealth and Comparative Politics

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 case 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 behaviour. It is, rather, the same political forces and structures that shape politics in North America and Europe.

List of tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction: the study of elections in the politics of Southeast Asia R. H. Taylor
1. Elections and participation in three Southeast Asian countries Benedict R. Anderson
2. A useful fiction: democratic legitimization in New Order Indonesia R. William Liddle
3. Elections without representation: the Singapore experience under the PAP Garry Rodan
4. Elections' Janus face: limitations and potential in Malaysia K. S. Jomo
5. Malaysia: do elections make a difference? Harold Crouch
6. Contested meanings of elections in the Philippines Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet
7. Elections in Burma/Mynmar: for whom and why? R. H. Taylor
8. Elections and democratization in Thailand Suchit Bunbongkarn
9. A tale of two democracies: conflicting perceptions of elections in Thai politics Anek Laothamatas
10. The Cambodian elections of 1993: a case of power to the people? Kate G. Frieson
Afterword Dan S. Lev
Index.

Subject Areas: Elections & referenda [JPHF]