Over the past two decades, book-length analyses of politics in Southeast Asia, like those addressing other parts of the developing world, have focused closely on democratic change, election events, and institution building. But recently, democracy's fortunes have ebbed in the region. In the Philippines, the progenitor of 'people power', democracy has been diminished by electoral cheating and gross human rights violations. In Thailand, though the former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, scored successive electoral victories, he so committed executive abuses that he served up the pretext by which royalist elements in the military might mount a coup, one that even gained favour with the new middle class. And in Indonesia, lauded today as the region's only democracy still standing, the government's writ over the security forces has remained weak, with military commanders nestling in unaccountable domains, there to conduct their shadowy business dealings. Elsewhere, dominant single parties persist in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, while a military junta perpetuates its brutal control over Burma. This volume, the first to bring together a series of country cases and comparative narratives about the recent revival of authoritarian rule in Southeast Asia, identifies the structural and voluntarist dynamics that underlie this trend and the institutional patterns that are taking shape. This book was published as a special issue of The Pacific Review.

Over the past two decades, book-length analyses of politics in Southeast Asia, like those addressing other parts of the developing world, have focused closely on democratic change, election events, and institution building. But recently, democracy's fortunes have ebbed in the region. In the Philippines, the progenitor of 'people power', democracy has been diminished by electoral cheating and gross human rights violations. In Thailand, though the former Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, scored successive electoral victories, he so committed executive abuses that he served up the pretext by which royalist elements in the military might mount a coup, one that even gained favour with the new middle class. And in Indonesia, lauded today as the region's only democracy still standing, the government's writ over the security forces has remained weak, with military commanders nestling in unaccountable domains, there to conduct their shadowy business dealings. Elsewhere, dominant single parties persist in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, while a military junta perpetuates its brutal control over Burma.

This volume, the first to bring together a series of country cases and comparative narratives about the recent revival of authoritarian rule in Southeast Asia, identifies the structural and voluntarist dynamics that underlie this trend and the institutional patterns that are taking shape.

This book was published as a special issue of The Pacific Review.

Contents:
Preface 1. Comparing Politics in Southeast Asia 2. Indonesia: Perpetuating and Changing a Pseudo-democracy 3. Singapore: A Stable Semi-democracy 4. Malaysia: Semi-democracy with Strain Points 5. Thailand: An Unconsolidated Democracy 6. The Philippines: Stable, but Low Quality Democracy 7. Southeast Asia: Uncovering State Elites and the Business Connection Notes Appendix: Basic Social, Administrative and Economic Data Index

This volume provides an introduction to the politics of the five key southeast Asian states - Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines - and is intended as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses on this subject. Using a comparative politics and political economy perspective, the author focuses in particular on the degree of democracy in the five countries, arguing that in all the countries considered democracy is, to varying degrees, imperfect. The book synthesises a wide range of scholarship, and presents the material in a concise and accessible way.

Bringing together over 25 key experts, this cutting-edge Handbook is designed to produce a detailed account of the mixed fortunes of democracy in the region.

Democracy in Southeast Asia has been explained using a number of factors including historical legacies, social structures, developmental levels, transitional processes, and institutional designs while other elements, such as elite-level relations and social coalitions, have been overlooked. This book offers a new explanation for democracy's collapse or persistence in Southeast Asia today. Focusing on Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia - the three countries in the region with the most democratic experience - William Case shows that existing accounts based on contextual factors are by themselves incomplete. Hence, they lead us wrongly to anticipate democracy's persistence in Thailand and its collapse in Indonesia. They more accurately, though only partially, correlate with democracy's fluctuations in the Philippines. Advancing a new argument, Case shows that democracy's fate is determined instead by the opportunities that contextual factors can provide for populist mobilization. His model enables us better to understand democracy's breakdown in Thailand, its survival in Indonesia, and its slippage in the Philippines. Presenting research into vital questions over democratic durability and authoritarian backlash, this book will be of interest to scholars in the field of comparative politics, specifically comparative democratization and Southeast Asian politics.

Bringing together over 25 key experts, this cutting-edge Handbook is designed to produce a detailed account of the mixed fortunes of democracy in the region.

Democracy in Southeast Asia has been explained using a number of factors including historical legacies, social structures, developmental levels, transitional processes, and institutional designs while other elements, such as elite-level relations and social coalitions, have been overlooked. This book offers a new explanation for democracy's collapse or persistence in Southeast Asia today. Focusing on Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia - the three countries in the region with the most democratic experience - William Case shows that existing accounts based on contextual factors are by themselves incomplete. Hence, they lead us wrongly to anticipate democracy's persistence in Thailand and its collapse in Indonesia. They more accurately, though only partially, correlate with democracy's fluctuations in the Philippines. Advancing a new argument, Case shows that democracy's fate is determined instead by the opportunities that contextual factors can provide for populist mobilization. His model enables us better to understand democracy's breakdown in Thailand, its survival in Indonesia, and its slippage in the Philippines. Presenting research into vital questions over democratic durability and authoritarian backlash, this book will be of interest to scholars in the field of comparative politics, specifically comparative democratization and Southeast Asian politics.

Murder, mystery, and mayhem follow Jimmy Snyder when he is arrested and thrown in jail for killing Grady, a crime he did not commit. After being released for lack of evidence, he sets out to find the real killer and runs into more killing and mischief. He falls for Julia Jesperson and more obstacles are put in his path to prevent him from finding out what is really going on in this quiet little town in Southern Utah.

Sheriff Bill Little has his hands full when Jack Jolley comes to The Gulch. Jolley is followed by his boss, Charlie Bender, owner of the CB Ranch with his herd of cattle and his ranch hands. The Sheriff hires a Deputy, Archie Mahoney, to help him control the CB gang and the trouble-making Ute Indians, Red Nose and Chimmy Royo. Also, there are the Sawley brothers wanted for rustling cattle in Wyoming, and there is the shooting of a newcomer who intends to sing in the Boot Trail Saloon, owned by Skinny Skinner. Someone tries to kill the Sheriff, and, as if that weren't enough, Deputy Mahoney can't make up his mind which girl to marry, Abigail, the doctor's daughter, or Tessie, the sister-in-law of Mr. Althorpe. And then there are the cowboys from Wyoming in cahoots with the rustlers and it all comes to a head in a shootout in the saloon.

Tom Anderson returns to Hillside after a two-year mission and gets caught up in a bank robbery. Not knowing much about the law, Sheriff O'Shaughnessy makes him a Deputy and tells him to chase the outlaws with the help of Chet Amundsen and Cadmus Brownson assigned to retrieve the money for the Mormon Church. Tom and Chet both fall for Amelia Sharp, whose family owns the Hillside general store. Their rivalry follows them on the trail of the outlaws and the problems that arise in the pursuit of justice. Characters from the past and present make this an entertaining story of the Old West that takes place in Utah Territory, including gunfights, Indians, bank robberies, and the everyday routine of ordinary people.

Sheriff Cyrus Ocklund wakes up one morning to find that his Deputy has been strangled to death. He hires a Ute Indian to help him find the killer and do other duties in the small, quiet town of High Bench, Utah Territory. A gang of outlaws blows up the bank and takes off with the money. The Sheriff rounds up a posse and follows the trail of the outlaws. A woman posse member is taken captive, further aggravating the situation, and the small posse is not large enough to take on the thieves. An exciting story of cat and mouse to the final shootout along the Green River.

Slim Sanglant, released from prison, is now seeking revenge against those in Upamona who helped put him there, and Red Skene, former U. S. Marshal and now County Sheriff is the man on his trail. There is a killing, houses and a barn are set on fire, and people come up missing before Red can get to the bottom of it. And get to the bottom of it he does with the help of his half-breed deputy, Bushy Carlsen, who is hit by a bolt of lightning that knocks him unconscious just as he sees who he thinks may be setting the fires. But who was it? And while Red is looking for the killer and arsonist, his wife is thinking about someone else and having serious doubts about their marriage.

Marshal Chappie Wesford, recalled to active Army duty, arrives in Altaveel to give a Civil War Award to Roger Proudmire and Calvin Fedderson. He talks to Bishop Thorneycraft and others about the two honorees regarding their honesty and worthiness, but the Henberry family thinks he has come to take over their business and land, and proceed to make his life difficult. Chappie meets Esther Bigknife, a widow, but there is a relationship between her and Milt Henberry. Milt doesn't like him interfering, and he and Oakley, his young brother, try to kill him. It all comes to a head on the Fourth of July, when Wesford delivers the award at the big Fourth of July celebration and asks Esther to marry him.

Chappie returns to Altaveel a few months later on the trail of outlaws who held up the bank in Price, and Milt Henberry is his deputy. One of the outlaws is Obadiah Henberry, Milt's uncle, who was invited to do a job for the elder Jim Henberry and to bring a couple of friends. Wesford and Milt track the outlaws down, and there is a shootout on the Six-Mile Road as they bring the robbers to justice.

In an influential study, Fish and Kroenig argue that "overarching institutional designs" (i.e., presidential, parliamentary, and dual systems) tell us less about the prospects of a new democracy than does the particular strength of the legislature. Specifically, executives are best checked where legislatures are powerful, generating horizontal accountability. In addition, ordinary citizens are better informed by the robust party systems that strong legislatures support, fostering vertical accountability. In comparing Freedom House scores with their Parliamentary Powers Index (PPI), Fish and Kroenig show clear correlations, leading them to conclude that democracies are made strong by legislatures that are empowered. In this monograph, this thesis is tested in five country cases in Southeast Asia: the Philippines and Indonesia, both new democracies, and Malaysia, Cambodia, and Singapore, cases of electoral authoritarianism. Analysis uncovers that in the new democracies, though their legislatures may be rated as powerful, members are geared less to checking the executive than to sharing in state patronage. In addition, although the legislature is evaluated as weak under electoral authoritarianism, it features an opposition that, with little access to patronage, remains committed to exposing executive abuses. What is more, when the executive operates a regime type that lacks the full legitimacy gained through general elections, he or she grows more receptive to at least mild legislative scrutiny. Contrary to Fish and Kroenig, then, this study concludes that the executive is held more accountable by legislatures under electoral authoritarianism than in new democracies. But rather than leading to a transition to democratic politics, this accountability strengthens authoritarian rule.

U. S. Marshal Red Skene is on the trail of two prison escapees who have joined up with Slim Sanglant, the meanest, toughest, and biggest sheepherder in Upamona. Working under cover as Utah's worst outlaw, Skene plans to join the gang, but his plans are changed when he has a run-in with Sanglant. Red helps his cousins, Fred and Jed Cadwell, with their gold mine in the High Uintahs where Sanglant's gang has been digging on the Cadwell claim. Skene meets and falls in love with Colleen Ryan. Rueben Graves, one of the outlaws, kills the storekeeper and the town thinks Red is mixed up in it. Red shows his badge and with his cousins takes on the Sanglant gang and a bountry hunter who tries to interfere.