The Architecture of Authoritarianism Southeast Asia and the Regeneration of Democratization Theory

Abstract

What can the study of democratization in Southeast Asia contribute to our knowledge of democratization more generally? This literature exhibits two noteworthy strengths. First, Southeast Asianists have been more attentive than most general democratization theorists to structural influences on political regime outcomes: especially the power of authoritarian institutions, such as party, military, and state apparatuses, in shaping the fate of nondemocratic regimes. Second, rather than introducing completely new hypotheses or definitively testing familiar arguments, Southeast Asian regime studies play a vital role in elaborating and regenerating hypotheses for further consideration. Deep area knowledge thus serves not only to amass the raw material upon which broader theories are initially built, but also to pinpoint informative anomalies and to assess the causal mechanisms underlying our leading theories. As scholars of comparative politics increasingly explore the institutional architecture of authoritarian regimes, they should find much of general interest in theoretically informed analyses of specific Southeast Asian countries.