Southeast Asia is one of the biggest marketplaces for illicit drugs. The international syndicates with their billion-dollar profits are similar to the Hydra of the old Greek mythology which grew two new heads if one was cut off. Hercules eventually killed the monster with the help of his nephew who cauterised the fresh wounds before new heads could emerge. This story describes quite well the challenging task for the political and police efforts to fight the narcotics industry which has a long history in Asia. From the early 1800s, the East India Company dumped Indian opium on China and ruined the economy of both countries. During the colonial heydays, Britain in Malaya and Burma, France in Indochina, and the Netherlands in today's Indonesia, financed big parts of their colonial budgets with opium. In the 20th century, heroin ruined countless lives in Southeast Asia and in the West.Today, synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamines, are produced in hidden laboratories in remote areas of the region and smuggled across the porous borders. Drug prevention programs and the harsh penalties in all ASEAN states have not reduced the drug trade and the consumption. On the contrary, both are growing.This book analyses the detrimental impact of the drug industry on the political economy and the social developments in Southeast Asia. Shortcomings and lasting damages can be traced in the political structures, in the rampant corruption, and the secretive links between customs, armies, police organisations, and organised crime.

'The book offers a broad survey of political partiesaEURO (TM) financing strategies in Southeast Asia.'Contemporary Southeast AsiaPolitical activities, the running of party organisations, branches and headquarters, and especially election campaigns, are becoming increasingly costly, and no party can survive without money. Political power provides access to funding from public and private sources. Political parties have become more and more like businesses, including the temptation to maximise the income and the war chests, thus opening the doors for vested interests and influence peddling. As a result, money politics is pervasive, and the public is becoming increasingly critical of it. Trust in political parties, politicians, governments, and key state institutions has fallen to unprecedented levels. In most countries in the region general and political corruption, graft, and influence peddling are all too visible for the voters, while good governance remains an ideal too often out of reach.This book, Power Broking in the Shade: Party Finances and Money Politics in Southeast Asia, provides an overview of the strategies for financial survival of the parties in the region and the importance of stable cash flows for their political success. The book fills the void of a comparative approach towards party financing that covers the whole of ASEAN and offers accessible facts and understandable analysis for anyone interested in the politics of Southeast Asia.