What a little democracy can do: Comparing trajectories of reform in Malaysia and Indonesia

Democratization

Volumn 14, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 26-43

  Weiss, Meredith L ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; DEMOCRACY; DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION; ECONOMIC CONDITIONS; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; HEGEMONY; INSTITUTIONAL REFORM; SOCIAL CAPITAL;

ASIA; EURASIA; INDONESIA; MALAYSIA; SOUTHEAST ASIA;

EID: 34347265232     PISSN: 13510347     EISSN: 1743890X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13510340601024280     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. A sub-type of authoritarianism rather than democracy is used here not to cast a normative judgment, but to stress the limits in place 'on the freedom, fairness, inclusiveness, and meaningfulness of elections' in these regimes, unlike in electoral democracies. See Larry Diamond, 'Thinking About Hybrid Regimes', Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2002), p. 28.
2. See also, Daniel Bell and Kanishka Jayasuriya, 'Understanding Illiberal Democracy: A Framework', in Daniel Bell, David Brown, Kanishka Jayasuriya and David Martin Jones, Towards Illiberal Democracy in Pacific Asia (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995), pp. 1-16.
3. Nicolas van de Walle, 'When Do Oppositions Coalesce in Electoral Autocracies?', Paper presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, 2-6 September 2004, p.4. His analysis is based on sub-Saharan African cases.
4. Michael Bratton and Nicolas van de Walle, 'Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa', World Politics, Vol. 46, No. 4 (1994), pp.453-89.
5. Guillermo O'Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions About Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), pp.55-7.
6. The author develops this concept further in Meredith L. Weiss, Protest and Possibilities: Civil Society and Coalitions for Political Change in Malaysia (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006), pp.3-3.
7. Van de Walle, (note 2), p.7.
8. Andreas Schedler, 'The Menu of Manipulation', Journal of Democracy Vol. 13, No. 2 (2002), p.47.
9. Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly, Dynamics of Contention (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp.7-8.
10. Van de Walle, (note 2), p.10.
11. Alfred Stepan, Rethinking Military Politics: Brazil and the Southern Cone (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), p.4.
12. Juan J. Linz and Alfred Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996).
13. Diamond, (note 1), p.24.
14. Arend Lijphart, 'Consociational Democracy', World Politics, Vol. 21, No. 2 (1969), pp.207-25.
15. Non-communal refers to 'attitudes, orientations or actions motivated by a concern for the common good rather than by a preoccupation with the interests of a single ethnic group (or combination of ethnic groups)'. See Simon Barraclough, 'Barisan Nasional Dominance and Opposition Fragmentation: The Failure of Attempts to Create Opposition Cooperation in the Malaysian Party System', Asian Profile, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1985), p.34, note 3.
16. Ian Lustick, 'Stability in Deeply Divided Societies: Consociationalism Versus Control', World Politics, Vol. 31, No. 3 (1979), pp.325-44
17. Lloyd Musolf and J. Fred Springer, 'Legislatures and Divided Societies: The Malaysian Parliament and Multi-Ethnicity', Legislative Studies Quarterly, Vol. II, No. 2 (1977), pp. 113-36.
18. Barraclough, (note 14), p.41.
19. Jason Abbott, 'Vanquishing Banquo's Ghost: The Anwar Ibrahim Affair and Its Impact on Malaysian Politics', Asian Studies Review, Vol. 25, No. 3 (2001), p.286.
20. For details, see Meredith L. Weiss, 'The 1999 Malaysian General Elections: Issues, Insults, and Irregularities', Asian Survey, Vol. 40, No. 3 (2000), pp.413-35.
21. See Harold Crouch, 'Malaysia: Do Elections Make a Difference?', in R.H. Taylor (ed.), The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia (Cambridge, MA: Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp.114-35.
22. Bridget Welsh, 'Malaysia in 2004: Out of Mahathir's Shadow?', Asian Survey, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2005), p.156.
23. Ibid., pp.155-6
24. Bridget Welsh, 'Tears and Fears: Tun Mahathir's Last Hurrah', in Daljit Singh and Chin Kin Wah (eds), Southeast Asian Affairs 2004 (Singapore: ISEAS, 2004), pp.139-55.
25. Abbott, (note 17), p.286.
26. For instance, Edward Aspinall, Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance, and Regime Change in Indonesia (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005);
27. Philip Eldridge, Non-Government Organizations and Democratic Participation in Indonesia (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1995);
28. Suzaina Kadir, 'Contested Visions of State and Society in Indonesian Islam: The Nahdlatul Ulama in Perspective', in Chris Manning and Peter van Diermen (eds), Indonesia in Transition: Social Aspects of Reformasi and Crisis (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2000), pp.319-35.
29. Vincent Boudreau, 'Diffusing Democracy? People Power in Indonesia and the Philippines', Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 31, No. 4 (1999), p.6.
30. Ibid., pp.11-12.
31. Aspinall (note 23), pp. xi, 252. Aspinall untangles this paradox of organizational weakness and rampant opposition sentiment to understand Reformasi from the point of view of its protagonists.
32. See Stefan Eklöf, Indonesian Politics in Crisis: The Long Fall of Suharto, 1996-98 (Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 1999) or Aspinall, (note 23).
33. Aspinall, (note 23), chap. 5.
34. Boudreau, (note 24), p.13.
35. R. William Liddle, 'Indonesia's Democratic Transition: Playing by the Rules', in Andrew Reynolds (ed.), The Architecture of Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp.373-99.
36. Ken Young, 'The National Picture - A Victory for Reform?', in Susan Blackburn (ed.), Pemilu: The 1999 Indonesian Election (Clayton, Victoria: Monash Asia Institute, 1999), pp. 3-9
37. Azyumardi Azra, 'The Islamic Factor in Post-Soeharto Indonesia', in Chris Manning and Peter van Diermen (eds), Indonesia in Transition: Social Aspects of Reformasi and Crisis (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2000), pp. 309-18.
38. R. William Liddle, 'Indonesia in 2000: A Shaky Start for Democracy', Asian Survey, Vol. 41, No. 1 (2001), pp.208-20
39. Michael S. Malley, 'Indonesia in 2001: Restoring Stability in Jakarta', Asian Survey, Vol. 42, No. 1 (2002), pp.124-32.
40. Arief Budiman, 'The 1999 Indonesian Election: Impressions and Reflections', in Susan Blackburn (ed.), Pemilu: The 1999 Indonesian Election (Clayton, Victoria: Monash Asia Institute, 1999), pp. 17-18
41. Margot Cohen, 'Unguided Missiles', Far Eastern Economic Review, 26 November 1998, pp. 16, 18. The Ciganjur Declaration called for free elections and popular sovereignty, phasing out the military's political and parliamentary role, decentralization and fair allocation of funds to the regions (but still a unitary state), and investigation into corruption and especially Suharto's wealth.
42. Malley (note 32); Michael S. Malley, 'Indonesia in 2002: The Rising Cost of Inaction', Asian Survey, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2003), pp.135-46.
43. Rita Smith Kipp, 'Indonesia in 2003: Terror's Aftermath', Asian Survey, Vol. 44, No. 1 (2004), p.69.
44. Ibid.;
45. Liddle (note 32).
46. DEMOS, Executive Report, 1st Round Study of the Problems and Options of Indonesian Democratisation (Jakarta: Indonesian Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, 2004), p.2.
47. Boudreau (note 24), p.14.
48. Max Lane, 'Mass Politics and Political Change in Indonesia', in Arief Budiman, Barbara Hatley, and Damien Kingsbury (eds), Reformasi: Crisis and Change in Indonesia (Clayton, Victoria: Monash Asia Institute, 1999), pp.242, 245.
49. Max Lane, 'Indonesia: Rejecting the Old 'Elit Politik', Green Left Weekly, 21 April 2004, p.20.
50. Stephen Sherlock, The 2004 Indonesian Elections: How the System Works and What the Parties Stand For (Canberra: Centre for Democratic Institutions, 2004), pp.4, 15-16.
51. Harold Crouch, 'No, the Military Isn't Running Indonesia', International Herald Tribune, 2 August 2001.
52. DEMOS, (note 37), p.3.
53. See also the account by Olle Törnquist, 'Assessing Democracy from Below: A Framework and Indonesian Pilot Study, Democratization Vol. 13, No. 2 (April 2006), pp.227-55.
54. Malley, 'Indonesia in 2002', (note 34), p.146.
55. William Case, 'Democracy in Southeast Asia: How to Get It and What Does It Matter?', in Mark Beeson (ed.), Contemporary Southeast Asia: Regional Dynamics, National Differences (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 96.
56. Donald K. Emmerson, 'A Year of Voting Dangerously?', Journal of Democracy, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2004), pp.94-108.
57. Aspinall, (note 23), p.259.
58. Aspinall, (note 23), p.2.
59. DEMOS, (note 37), p.3.
60. Aspinall, (note 23), p.272.
61. Emmerson, (note 46), p.95.
62. DEMOS, (note 37), p.3.
63. Cf. Holger Albrecht, 'How Can Opposition Support Authoritarianism? Lessons from Egypt', Democratization, Vol. 12, No. 3 (2005), pp.378-97
64. or Nancy Bermeo, 'Myths of Moderation: Confrontation and Conflict During Democratic Transitions', Comparative Politics, Vol. 29, No. 3 (1997), pp.305-22.
65. O'Donnell and Schmitter, (note 4), p.3.
66. Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, 'The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism', Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2002), p.59, emphasis in original.
67. Eva-Lotta E. Hedman, 'Contesting State and Civil Society: Southeast Asian Trajectories', Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 35, No. 4 (2001), pp.921-51.
68. Iris Marion Young, 'State, Civil Society, and Social Justice', in Ian Shapiro and Casiano Hacker- Cordón (eds), Democracy's Value (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p.153.
69. Aspinall, (note 23), p. 2.