Competing ideologies of political representation in Southeast Asia

Rodan, G. (2012) Competing ideologies of political representation in Southeast Asia. Third World Quarterly, 33 (2). pp. 311-332.

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Abstract

In both post-authoritarian and authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia there are continuing struggles over the forms and extent of political representation. Importantly, many of the same ideologies are present across these different categories of regime. Ideas of, and constituencies for, nondemocratic representation exist in democratic societies and vice versa. Alongside democratic notions of representation, populist, localist and consensus rationales compete for support. However, in contests to shape political representation, historical factors, including legacies of the Cold War and structural impacts of global capitalist development, are not favourable to the pursuit of interests through the independent, collective action-especially cohesive social movements involving trade unions-that characterised the experiences of democratisation in Western Europe. This profoundly influences the complexion of and levels of support for different ideologies of representation in the region.