Bound to rule: Party institutions and regime trajectories in Malaysia and the Philippines

Journal of East Asian Studies

Volumn 8, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 89-118

  Brownlee, Jason ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

Author keywords

Authoritarianism; Autocracy; Democracy; Democratization; Dictatorship; Elections; Elites; Institutions; Parties; Regime change

Indexed keywords

EID: 56849086752     PISSN: 15982408     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1598240800005105     Document Type: Article

References (123)

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2. Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), p. 134.
3. Ibid., p. 137.
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11. Guillermo A. O'Donnell and Philippe C. Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Tentative Conclusions About Uncertain Democracies (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), pp. 10, 15;
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22. Huntington, The Third Wave, p. 174.
23. On the limits of elections by themselves to bring change in Southeast Asia, see William Case, "Southeast Asia's Hybrid Regimes: When Do Voters Change Them?" Journal of East Asian Studies 5 (2005).
24. For a contrasting view on the subject, from sub-Saharan Africa, see Staffan Lindberg, Democracy and Elections in Africa (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006).
25. O'Donnell and Schmitter, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule.
26. See, among others, Karen L. Remmer, "New Wine or Old Bottlenecks?" Comparative Politics 23 (July 1991); Richard Snyder, "Explaining Transitions from Neopatrimonial Dictatorships, Comparative Politics 24 (July 1992);
27. Juan J. Linz and Alfred C. Stephan, Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996);
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30. Michael Bratton and Nicolas van de Walle, Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 83.
31. Barbara Geddes, "Authoritarian Breakdown"; Geddes, "What Do We Know About Democratization After Twenty Years?" Annual Review of Political Science 2 (1999).
32. Geddes, "Authoritarian Breakdown," p. 37.
33. Thorsten Beck, George Clarke, Alberto Groff, Philip Keefer, and Patrick Walsh, "New Tools in Comparative Political Economy: The Database of Political Institutions," World Bank Economic Review 15, no. 1 (2001). Note that studies based on Freedom House or Polity data do not capture discrete changes within regimes, including the shift to multipartyism. The Database of Political Institutions (DPI) provides more traction on this problem because it better disaggregates theorized causes - the array of political institutions - from outcomes that may be conflated with levels of political and civic freedom. Covering 1975 to 2000, the database includes a seven-point scale of legislative and executive electoral competitiveness: 1 = no legislature, 2 = unelected legislature/executive, 3 = elected legislature/executive, one candidate/ post, 4 = one party, multiple candidates, 5 = multiple parties are legal but only one party won seats, 6 = multiple parties did win seats but the largest party received more than 75 percent of the seats, 7 = largest party got less than 75 percent. The DPI's independent data on multipartyism cut across Geddes's regime types and are not endogenous to the outcomes of breakdown or continuity. Regime years that measured 1-4 in the DPI index were coded as not having multiparty elections. Those that received a score of 5-7 were coded as holding multiparty elections.
34. Philip Keefer, Database of Political Institutions: Changes and Variable Definitions (New York: World Bank, 2002).
35. Alan Heston, Robert Summers, and Bettina Aten, Penn World Table Version 6.2 (Philadelphia: Center for International Comparisons of Production, Income and Prices at the University of Pennsylvania, 2006);
36. Geddes, "Authoritarian Breakdown."
37. I also performed pairwise correlation tests on the elections and regime breakdown variable. There was no significant correlation between the two variables. Military and single-party regimes were each significantly correlated with the dependent variable.
38. Variables measuring economic performance were also significant, pointing again to the need to incorporate socioeconomic development in causal narratives of regime change and continuity.
39. Barbara Geddes, Paradigms and Sand Castles: Theory Building and Research Design in Comparative Politics (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003), pp. 53-67.
40. Maurice Duverger, Political Parties, Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State (New York: Wiley, 1951 [1954]), pp. 1-2;
41. Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 461;
42. Alan Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 4-5.
43. Giovanni Sartori, Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976), p. 25.
44. This perspective draws on David Waldner's influential distinction between "high intensity" and "low intensity" elite conflict. David Waldner, State Building and Late Development (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999), p. 29.
45. Harold A. Crouch, Government and Society in Malaysia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), p. 11;
46. Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, ";The Battle Royal': The UMNO Elections of 1987." In Southeast Asian Affairs 1988 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988), p. 174;
47. Sydney Morning Herald, April 27, 1987.
48. Interview with Musa Hitam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 11, 2003;
49. Edmund Terence Gomez and Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Malaysia's Political Economy: Politics, Patronage and Profits (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 238-239;
50. Sydney Morning Herald, April 24, 1987;
51. Robert S. Milne and Diane K. Mauzy, Politics and Government in Malaysia (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1980), p. 44;
52. Ramanathan Sankaran and Mohammad Hamdan Adnan, Malaysia's 1986 General Election: The Urban-Rural Dichotomy (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1988), p. 70.
53. Ramanathan and Adnan, Malaysia's 1986 General Election, pp. 71-72;
54. Shamsul, "The Battle Royal," p. 185;
55. Sydney Morning Herald, April 28, 1987;
56. Harold Crouch, "Authoritarian Trends, the UMNO Split and the Limits of State Power." In Joel S. Kahn and Francis Loh Kok Wah, eds., Fragmented Vision: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Malaysia (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992), p. 33;
57. Milne and Mauzy, Politics and Government in Malaysia, p. 43;
58. Crouch, Government and Society, p. 119.
59. Japan Economic Newswire, August 26, 1988;
60. The Economist, October 13, 1990.
61. New Straits Times, October 31, 1988;
62. New Straits Times, November 1, 1988;
63. New Straits Times, December 19, 1988;
64. New Straits Times, January 14, 1988;
65. New Straits Times, January 21, 1989;
66. New Straits Times, February 1, 1989.
67. Crouch, Government and Society, pp. 127-128;
68. Khong Kim Hoong, Malaysia's General Election 1990: Continuity, Change, and Ethnic Politics (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1991), p. 13;
69. Khong Kim Hoong, "Malaysia 1990: The Election Show-down," Southeast Asian Affairs 1991 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), p. 164;
70. Reuters, October 23, 1990.
71. Kevin Y. L. Tan, "Malaysia." In Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz, and Christof Hartmann, eds., Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook, vol. 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), pp. 172, 179; interview with Edmund Terence Gomez, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, June 6, 2003.
72. Khoo Boo Teik, "Malaysia: Challenges and Upsets in Politics and Other Contestations." In Southeast Asian Affairs 1997 (Singapore: Institue of Southeast Asian Studies), p. 168.
73. Liak Teng Kiat, "Malaysia: Mahathir's Last Hurrah?" In Southeast Asian Affairs 1996 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), p. 231;
74. Daniel Slater, "Iron Cage in an Iron Fist: Authoritarian Institutions and the Personalization of Power in Malaysia," Comparative Politics 36 (October 2003): 90;
75. John Funston, "Malaysia: A Fateful September." In Southeast Asian Affairs 1999, (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), pp. 169-170;
76. Khoo Boo Teik, "Unfinished Crises: Malaysian Politics in 1999," Southeast Asian Affairs 2000 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies), pp. 168-169.
77. Funston, "Malaysia," pp. 172-173;
78. Khoo Boo Teik, "Unfinished Crises," pp. 172-174.
79. Funston, "Malaysia," pp. 172-175;
80. William Case, "Malaysia's Resilient Pseudodemocracy," Journal of Democracy 12 (January 2001): 51;
81. Khoo Boo Teik, "Unfinished Crises," p. 179;
82. Tan, "Malaysia," p. 179.
83. Atul Kohli, "Centralization and Powerlessness: India's Democracy in Comparative Perspective." In Joel Migdal, Atul Kohli, and Vivienne Shur, eds., State Power and Social Forces: Domination and Transformation in the Third World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 95.
84. Mark R. Thompson, The Anti-Marcos Struggle: Personalistic Rule and Democratic Transition in the Philippines (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 49-61;
85. David Wurfel, Filipino Politics: Development and Decay (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988), p. 95.
86. Thompson, The Anti-Marcos Struggle, pp. 43-44; interview with Juan Ponce Enrile, Manila, May 28, 2003;
87. Joel Rocamora, "Philippine Political Parties: Continuity and Change" (Quezon City: Institute for Popular Democracy, 1998); interview with Salvador Laurel, Manila, May 30, 2003;
88. "Opposition Candidates Stage 'Huge' Rally in Manila," Hong Kong AFP, FBIS-APA-78-63, March 30, 1978:
89. "Aquino: 'Brazen and Massive Cheatings,'" Hong Kong AFP, FBIS-APA-78-69, April 10, 1978;
90. "KBL Maintains 21-0 Lead Over Laban in Manila," Manila Domestic Services, FBIS-APA-78-70, April 10, 1978.
91. Interview with Enrile; interview with Gabriel Claudio, former assistant to the secretary-general of KBL, Manila, May 26, 2003;
92. interview with Aquilino Pimentel, senator, leader in UNIDO, Manila, May 21, 2003.
93. Interview with Enrile; Thompson, The Anti-Marcos Struggle, p. 103.
94. Nick Joaquin, Doy Laurel in Profile: A Philippine Political Odyssey (Manila: Makati Trade Times Publishing, 1985), pp. 270-274;
95. Wurfel, Filipino Politics, p. 209.
96. "Opposition Party Leaders Issue Joint 'Manifesto,'" Hong Kong AFP, FBIS-APA-80-170, August 29, 1980: P1;
97. Wurfel, Filipino Politics, p. 209;
98. "Endorsed by Aquino," Hong Kong AFP, FBIS-APA-80-170, August 29, 1980: P3.
99. Interview with Antonio Cuenco, former KBL cardholder and UNIDO member, Manila, May 20, 2003;
100. interview with Pimentel.
101. Wurfel, Filipino Politics, p. 210;
102. Thompson, The Anti-Marcos Struggle, p. 107;
103. William Overholt, "The Rise and Fall of Ferdinand Marcos," Asian Survey 26 (November 1986): 1156-1157;
104. interview with Rudolph Albano, former KBL congressman, Manila, May 26, 2003;
105. Raul P. DeGuzman and Luzviminda G. Tancangco, An Assessment of the May 1984 Batasang Pambansa Elections: A Summary of Findings (Manila: University of the Philippines, 1986), p. 134; interview with Enrile;
106. interview with Laurel.
107. "Unido Viewed as Dominant Opposition Party," Bulletin Today, FBISAPA-84-075, April 15, 1984; Luzviminda G. Tancangco, "The Electoral System and Political Parties in the Philippines." In R. De Guzman and M. Reforma, eds., Government and Politics in the Philippines (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1988), pp. 101, 105.
108. Overholt, "The Rise and Fall of Ferdinand Marcos," p. 1152.
109. Joaquin, Doy Laurel in Profile, p. 310;
110. the extract is from DeGuzman and Tancangco, An Assessment, p. 26;
111. Christof Hartmann, Ghaham Hassall, and Soliman M. Santos Jr., "Philippines." In Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz, and Christof Hartmann, eds., Elections in Asia and the Pacific: A Data Handbook, Volume 2 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), p. 222.
112. Raymond Bonner, Waltzing with a Dictator: The Marcoses and the Making of American Policy (New York: Times Books, 1987), p. 392.
113. Interview with Laurel.
114. David Joel Steinberg, The Philippines: A Singular and a Plural Place (Boulder: Westview Press, 1994), p. 146;
115. National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, The NAMFREL Report on the February 7, 1986, Philippine Presidential Elections (Manila: National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, 1986), pp. 3-4, 74.
116. NAMFREL, The NAMFREL Report, pp. 3-4, 74;
117. DeGuzman and Tancangco, An Assessment, p. 153;
118. James B. Goodno, The Philippines: Land of Broken Promises (London: Zed Books, 1991), p. 97.
119. Overholt, "The Rise and Fall," p. 1162;
120. Goodno, The Philippines, pp. 97, 102;
121. Bonner, Waltzing with a Dictator, p. 445.
122. On the institutional dynamics of the post-Marcos era, see Eric U. Guitierrez, Ildefonso C. Torrente, and Noli G. Narca, All in the Family: A Study of Elites and Power Relations in the Philippines (Quezon City: Institute for Popular Democracy, 1992);
123. Rocamora, "Philippine Political Parties."