The Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics provides a comprehensive analysis of the major themes, conflicts and ideas that have defined and shaped the politics of Southeast Asia in the modern period. The introductory chapter provides an overview of the different ways in which the complex and often turbulent politics of the region have been understood and explained. The six thematic parts that follow begin with an analysis of how the dominant powerful political and social coalitions of the region and the blueprints for authoritarian rule were forged in the Cold War era. The next part assesses the complex processes of transition towards various forms of democratic politics and the way populism and money politics vie with more secular ideas of technocratic rule to shape emerging regimes and systems of governance. A third part deals with the politics of markets and how institutions and systems of governance are being forged in an increasingly global environment. Part four addresses whether civil society in Southeast Asia has really evolved as an independent sphere of social and political activity and power outside the control of powerful states as markets develop. The challenges to the authority of national and secular forms of state authority posed by ongoing violence and conflict and by various ethnic and regional forces and, not least, reactionary forms of Islamic politics are analysed in part five. Finally, in part six, the Handbook examines how national governments are dealing with growing tensions within the region as matters such as labour, human rights and the environment spill beyond national boundaries and how they are establishing a place in the new global framework. This authoritative Handbook in both scope and quality engages the Southeast Asian experience firmly with larger debates about how modern political systems and modern states are formed and how countries and regions are drawn into the global system.

The fallout from the crisis in Asia has been immense. Asia's position as the global economy's growth engine is now no longer tenable. As the political and economic regimes that defined "Asian capitalism" struggle to survive, it is by no means clear that free markets, transparent and accountable systems of governance and more vigorous civil societies will follow. The contributors to this book argue that processes of globalization are driven by complex political forces and that it is not enough to look at economic factors in isolation. Chapters focus on the different political and market institutions being forged in the wake of the crisis: from the highly ordered responses of China and Singapore to the chaos and disintergration in Indonesia; from the money politics of Thailand to the developmentalist juggernauts of Korea. They put the crisis in its global context, reassessing its impact on the configurations of power and interest shaping global markets and analyzing the major Western economies.

This book is about the way 'governance' has become the new orthodoxy of development, following earlier failed attempts at building working market economies through policy reform in developing countries. Considering how its proponents define 'good governance', the contributors to this volume assess why programmes of governance building in developing countries have proven to be no less problematic than the previous agendas of market reform. Governance and the Depoliticisation of Development challenges ideas that deeper political and social problems of development may be addressed by institutional or governance fixes. It examines the principles and prescriptions of 'good' governance as part of larger conflicts over power and its distribution. The volume provides: a series of case studies from Latin America, Middle East and Asia a link to current theorising on neoliberalism and the post-Washington Consensus a focus on governance at the global and national levels from a comparative perspective The collection will be essential reading for researchers and scholars of international political economy, governance studies and political science.

The articles in this edited collection, first published in 1985, consider the competing theories of the nature of development and underdevelopment in Southeast Asia. Each chapter challenges the academic orthodoxies and dominant traditions of Southeast Asian studies, particularly in relation to orientalist history, behaviourist political science and development economics. Overall, the contributions offer an alternative framework for analysis, which considers the structural changes to the political economy of Southeast Asia, as well as the relationship between the state, economy and class at a domestic level. This is a fascinating collection, of value to those with an interest in Southeast Asian politics, economics and history.

Now available in paperback, this Handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of the major themes that have defined the politics of Southeast Asia. It provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge examination of this important subject. The introductory chapter provides an overview of the theoretical and ideological themes that have dominated the study of the region's politics and presents the different ways the complex politics of the region have been understood. The contributions by leading scholars in the field cover a range of broad questions about the dynamics of politics. The Handbook analyses how the dominant political and social coalitions of the region were forged in the Cold War era, and assesses the complex processes of transition towards various forms of democratic politics. How institutions and systems of governance are being forged in an increasingly global environment is discussed and whether civil society in Southeast Asia has really evolved as an independent sphere of social and political activity. The Handbook examines how national governments are dealing with growing tensions within the region as matters such as labour, human rights and the environment spill beyond national boundaries, and how they are establishing a place in the new global framework. By engaging the Southeast Asian experience more firmly with larger debates about modern political systems, the Handbook is an essential reference tool for students and scholars of Political Science and Southeast Asian studies.

The articles in this edited collection, first published in 1985, consider the competing theories of the nature of development and underdevelopment in Southeast Asia. Each chapter challenges the academic orthodoxies and dominant traditions of Southeast Asian studies, particularly in relation to orientalist history, behaviourist political science and development economics. Overall, the contributions offer an alternative framework for analysis, which considers the structural changes to the political economy of Southeast Asia, as well as the relationship between the state, economy and class at a domestic level. This is a fascinating collection, of value to students and academics with an interest in Southeast Asian politics, economics and history.

A much-needed examination of the impact of neo-liberalism in East Asia in the years since the 1997 to 1998 Asian Economic Crisis. These leading contributors tackle the nature of neo-liberalism, and the forces and institutions driving it. With fresh case studies of Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, China and Vietnam, showing how domestic elites are critical to the ways in which the neo-liberal agenda is manifested, modified and rejected. They also engage with the key question of why there has been a dramatic restructuring of state and economic power, with some elements of domestic elites having been decimated, others reinventing themselves, while important new elements have been constituted. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Journal of Development Studies.

This book is about the way ?governance? has become the new orthodoxy of development, following earlier failed attempts at building working market economies through policy reform in developing countries.

Considering how its proponents define ?good governance?, the contributors to this volume assess why programmes of governance building in developing countries have proven to be no less problematic than the previous agendas of market reform.

Governance and the Depoliticisation of Development challenges ideas that deeper political and social problems of development may be addressed by institutional or governance fixes. It examines the principles and prescriptions of ?good? governance as part of larger conflicts over power and its distribution.

The volume provides:

• a series of case studies from Latin America, Middle East and Asia
• a link to current theorising on neoliberalism and the post-Washington Consensus
• a focus on governance at the global and national levels from a comparative perspective

The collection will be essential reading for researchers and scholars of international political economy, governance studies and political science.

This text confronts the fundamental paradox of economic and political transformations in which the advance of global markets and the collapse of old centralised authoritarian regimes have been accompanied by the widespread and successful reorganisation of profoundly illiberal and often predatory forms of power relations. Encompassing the most important political economic and political developments in Indonesia over the last 40 years, the book sheds new light on the Soeharto regime and the transition to a post-Soeharto era. It is a book about the failed state and the reorganisation of entrenched political interests in the face of economic and political crisis. This book should be of value to anyone studying South East Asia / South East Asian politics and should appeal to readers interested in political economy, political sociology and development studies.

This book is a challenging volume by distinguished, leading scholars of East Asian political economy; it provides a distinct alternative to simplistic accounts of the Asian crisis which generally swing between an emphasis on convergence imposed by global economic forces, and the resurrection of the special patterns of East Asian economic governance. The authors argue that global forces and domestic structures are engendering new forms of economic and political regulation in East Asia. While these signal the death knell of the developmental state, this in itself does not presuppose a convergence towards a standard model of global capitalism. The arguments in this book will contribute significantly to the construction of a new research agenda for comparative political economy at the dawn of a new century.
Politics and Markets in the Wake of the Asian Crisis covers a range of East Asian countries including the People's Republic of China, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. All the studies are linked together by a common endeavour to explore the dynamic interaction between global economic forces and domestic structures. The book is at the cutting edge of the study of East Asian political economy, and is distinguished by the attention it pays to the regional and international context of the crisis. It also contains theoretically sophisticated analyses of organisations such as APEC and the IMF.

In recent years dramatic changes in Asia's social and economic systems have seen the burgeoning of a substantial middle-class. This has captured the imagination of the West, in large part because the new middle-class represents massive new markets for Western style products. But what are the implications of the emergence of Asia's 'new rich'? Will they bring with them the institutions of liberalism, democracy, rule of law and new institutional freedoms? Or is Asia's 'new rich' quite different?
The New Rich in Asia: Mobile phones, McDonald's and Middle-class Revolution introduces a new series examining the social, political and economic construction of the new rich in East and South East Asia. It raises central issues about the nature of the 'new rich', including their social, economic and political impact on the region.
The contributors are acknowledged experts on the social and political systems they dissect. Each study, based on detailed research, combines theoretical and empirical material. This volume provides a valuable insight into the composition and global economic impact of these newly emerging classes and highlights a common inheritance of rapid economic growth.

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415113350

The book examines the rise of the amalgam of economic and political ideas we know as neo-liberalism and how these became the defining orthodoxy of our times. It investigates the inexorable global spread of market economies and how neo-liberal agendas are accommodated or hijacked in collisions with authoritarian states and populist oligarchies. The contributors address conflicts within the neo-liberal camp itself, and ask whether neo-liberalism, with its inherent distrust of politics and fear of society, requires an illiberal state defined by techno-managerial rule, or whether it invites descent into populist social contracts.

The book examines the rise of the amalgam of economic and political ideas we know as neo-liberalism and how these became the defining orthodoxy of our times. It investigates the inexorable global spread of market economies and how neo-liberal agendas are accommodated or hijacked in collisions with authoritarian states and populist oligarchies.

Studies of Indonesian politics have long focused upon the military and the bureaucracy because it is within these institutions that formal power is located, not the parties, unions, chambers of commerce or corporations. However, such an approach can neglect the powerful influences exerted upon the state by social and economic forces. This important and controversial new book examines the way in which one of these forces, capital, has emerged in the past two decades as a major influence upon the state, its officials and policies. The emergence of the capitalist class is examined, along with its internal divisions and conflicts and its relations with the state. In particular, attention is given to the fusion of the ruling strata of state officials and the capitalist class the potential basis for a new ruling class. This is set against the weakness of capital caused by its division into domestic and international, state and private, Chinese and indigenous. These factors are in turn set in the context of international influences the rise and fall of the oil boom, the activities of the IBRD and IMF, the decline of export earnings and the fiscal difficulties of the state. Since its original publication in 1986, Indonesia: The Rise of Capital has been the best selling academic book on Indonesian politics and the most cited in the SSCI and Google Scholar citation indexes.

About the Author

At the time of this publication in 1986, Richard Robison was Senior Lecturer in the Asian Studies Program at Murdoch University. He is now Emeritus Professor at Murdoch University and has been Professor of Political Economy at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague (20032006) andProfessor and Director of the Australian Research Councils Special Centre for Research on Political and Social Change in Contemporary Asia (19951999). He is the author, editor of 14 books and has published in major international journals, including World Politics, World Development, Pacific Review, New Political Economy and the Journal of Development Studies. Professor Robison has been awarded Senior research fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust.

A much-needed examination of the impact of neo-liberalism in East Asia in the years since the 1997 to 1998 Asian Economic Crisis. These leading contributors tackle the nature of neo-liberalism, and the forces and institutions driving it. With fresh case studies of Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, China and Vietnam, showing how domestic elites are critical to the ways in which the neo-liberal agenda is manifested, modified and rejected. They also engage with the key question of why there has been a dramatic restructuring of state and economic power, with some elements of domestic elites having been decimated, others reinventing themselves, while important new elements have been constituted. This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading Journal of Development Studies.