Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia: internal factors and international context

Abstract

Despite the expectations raised by a process of political modernization that began in 1986 in the Philippines and continued in Thailand and Indonesia in the following decade, democracy in Southeast Asia –a region of more than 650 million people, with a growing economic and geopolitical relevance on the global stage– has receded since the turn of the century. Although elections
are regularly held in half of the states, «democratic consolidation» is far from being achieved. A large academic literature has studied the causes of the phenomenon, but attention has focused on internal factors such as the weakness of institutions, social inequalities, ethnic and religious conflicts, or the lack of consensus on national identity. The objective of this article is to add another perspective, by examining the interplay between the political trajectory of the region and major changes in the structure of the international system. Through the analysis of four successive historical stages, it proves how external forces have been an additional variable that explains the persistence of authoritarianism.