This book explores theories of conflict and peacebuilding and applies them to case studies from the Asia Pacific region, seeking to shift attention to the inherency of conflict, the constant danger of re-emergence, and the need to establish mechanisms to resolve it. The authors argue that the central focus of peacebuilding should not be state-building per se, but rather the creation of effective mechanisms for peaceful resolution of both past and newly emerging conflicts. To do so, it is important to consider the entire process of creating peace, to contemplate the linkages between conflict, resolution, and post-conflict peacebuilding, rather than focus only on the period of institution-building.

This book presents a new organizing framework for studying democratic recession and autocratization in Southeast Asia. By introducing a new concept, “democratic backlash,” the book details how democratic recession inevitably provokes resistance that often forms the nucleus of new democratic movements, and in doing so, argues that it is important to identify these reverse trends that may eventually become dominant. The book contributes to current literature which thus far has sought to understand the causes and consequences of the decline in democracy around the world. Previous literature has focused primarily on advanced democracies, or alternatively, on large scale quantitative comparison. As such, this book helps fill a research gap with its focus on Southeast Asia, employing a comparative case study approach. Chapter authors are experts on Southeast Asia, a region that has experienced democratic recession and autocratization in a variety of ways, from rising populism to military coups.

This book explores theories of conflict and peacebuilding and applies them to case studies from the Asia Pacific region, seeking to shift attention to the inherency of conflict, the constant danger of re-emergence, and the need to establish mechanisms to resolve it. The authors argue that the central focus of peacebuilding should not be state-building per se, but rather the creation of effective mechanisms for peaceful resolution of both past and newly emerging conflicts. To do so, it is important to consider the entire process of creating peace, to contemplate the linkages between conflict, resolution, and post-conflict peacebuilding, rather than focus only on the period of institution-building.