Southeast Asian Politics

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

The aim of this introductory module is to understand and explain variations in political outcomes in the region we know as Southeast Asia. We will draw on comparative historical sociology to appreciate how the past has shaped the present, as well as to "see" politics in a comparative vein. The long arc of political change in Southeast Asia will be examined along various axes of comparisons: temporal (colonial, postcolonial); spatial (mainland and maritime Southeast Asia); ideological, (the Left and Right); and across interlocking "levels" (domestic and international). These comparisons will help us clarify some of the salient puzzles in the study of Southeast Asian politics - from why some colonial states transitioned into nation states while others fragmented (Indonesia vs. Indochina), and why some authoritarian regimes endured longer than others (Burma's poorer military junta over wealthier "New Order" in Indonesia), to the role of business elites as agents of political change, and whether topdown elite compacts or bottom up mass mobilizations (Philippines, Indonesia) best explain democratic transitions in this region.