教學大綱 Syllabus

科目名稱：混合政體：東南亞的民主挑戰

Course Name: Hybrid Regimes: Democratic Challenges in Southeast Asia
  • 學年學期：112-1 Fall Semester, 2023
  • 科目代碼：926852001 Course No.926852001

修別：選

Type of Credit: Elective

3.0

學分數

Credit(s)

10

預收人數

Number of Students

課程資料Course Details
  • 開課單位：亞太碩一、亞太碩二 Course Department:International Master's Program in Asia-Pacific Studies/M/1&2
  • 授課老師：DeasyRumondang Prisc Instructor: Deasy Rumondang Priscilla
  • 先修科目：無Prerequisite(N/A)
  • 上課時間：四D56 Session: thu13-16

課程簡介Course Description

Notes:

  • Essays: Students only write 6 essays in the 18 weeks. Students choose for themselves 6 topics for their short essays (500 words each). Each essay is submitted on the week when the topic is discussed. Thus, this course does not have a weekly homework.
  • Final paper: Students choose for themselves one topic for their individual final papers (5,000 words).
  • Presentations: Students present twice: 1 on the weekly topic of their choice, 1 on the framework of their final papers.
  • The course includes stimulating activities such as debates, games, simulations, watch a film (Title: The Lady (2011), about Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, directed by Luc Benson)

 

The course “Hybrid Regimes: Democratic Challenges in Southeast Asia” is designed as a standalone course or as a follow-up course for students who have completed the introductory course “Politics in Southeast Asia: Change and Continuity”. The course delves deeper into the socio-political development in various authoritarian and hybrid regimes in Asia, thereby allowing students to survey, compare and analyze the different, yet persistent, challenges of democracy that these nations are facing. While this course focuses on Southeast Asia, many of these countries’ politics are influenced by their relations to East Asian countries such as China, Taiwan and Japan. Cambodia’s failure to democratize, for many scholars, was partly due to its close relations to China. With this logic, democratization in Southeast Asia can be helped when they have good relations with democratized countries such as Taiwan and Japan. Therefore, this course is in line with Taiwan’s foreign policy initiative, the NEW SOUTHBOUND POLICY which seeks to promote closer relations to countries to the south of Taiwan, including Southeast Asian countries.

In the aftermath of the Cold War, a wave of democratization took the world by a storm. The collapse of the Soviet Union shook the foundation of authoritarian regimes in different parts of Asia, as it did in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. This post-Cold War wave toppled many one-party systems as well as authoritarian regimes and replaced them with new governments seeking to embark upon liberal reforms and democracy. However, transitioning into substantial democracies was not a simple task, and as the euphoria dissipated, many nations soon found out that regime transitions were at times not synonymous with democratic consolidation.

While pure authoritarian regimes are less common in Asia, many nations are in fact “hybrid regimes” or “electoral autocracies” stuck between authoritarianism and democracy. One of the main characteristics is the existence of multi-party elections, yet these are manipulated by government elites, thereby robbing the opposition of the chance of winning. In these nations, the thin veneer of quasi-democratic institutions and multi-party elections became a façade for abuses of power, manipulation and corruption. In Thailand, in the aftermath of the 2019 election the military-backed government dissolved an opposition party and arrested anti-government activists, sparking students’ protest demanding political reforms and a new constitution which would guarantee free and fair election and improve civil liberties. However, in 2023, the opposition Move Forward Party, has won the election and brought a new hope for Thailand’s democracy. In the Philippines, voters frustrated with crime and elite-based status quo had voted overwhelmingly for the populist Rodrigo Duterte, who employed extra-judicial killings in his “war on drugs”. In 2022, the majority of voters voted for the son and namesake of the former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.

        Some of the questions the course seeks to answer are: What is democracy good for? Why do some states democratize while others continue to exhibit authoritarianism? How do highly corrupt political regimes survive for decades? How do populist leaders gain and maintain power in Asia? What is the legacy of political violence in newly democratic states? What is the legacy of military-rule in the region? How do global human rights values and “Asian values” play a role in the nations’ politics? The beginning of the course introduces core concepts, regime typologies and indicators for assessing democratization. It subsequently discusses in-depth the development in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

核心能力分析圖 Core Competence Analysis Chart

能力項目說明

    課程目標與學習成效Course Objectives & Learning Outcomes

    This interdisciplinary course explores various challenges to democracy in Asia in the post-Cold War period by using case studies. The course provides students with a deeper understanding of each nation’s individual roadblocks for democratic governance, as well as the challenges faced in terms of structure and institutions. The course introduces various analytical concepts, tools and methodologies which will help the students to analyze possible ways of strengthening democratic traditions in the East and Southeast Asian regions. Upon completing the course, students will be able to: firstly, understand the differences between various regime types and able to identify the typologies across the East and Southeast Asian regions; secondly, analyze the democratization trajectory of various nations and understand the trend of democratic roll-backs in several case study nations, such as Myanmar, Indonesia, and to some extent, Malaysia; thirdly, identify each country’s specific impediments to further democratization; lastly, understand the role of each country’s individual trajectories of nationalism and modernization on their democracy.

    每周課程進度與作業要求 Course Schedule & Requirements

    教學週次Course Week 彈性補充教學週次Flexible Supplemental Instruction Week 彈性補充教學類別Flexible Supplemental Instruction Type

     

    Week

    Topic

    Content and Reading Assignment

    Teaching Activities and Homework

    1

    Introduction

    Syllabus

    Evaluation Criteria

    Class Regulations

    Introduction of syllabus and regulations

     

    Students choose the 6 (six) weeks in which they want to submit their individual essays.

     

    No Homework

    2

    Exploring democracy as a concept as opposed to “Hybrid Regime”

    Required

    Levitsky, Steven, and Lucan A. Way, 2010. Competitive authoritarianism: Hybrid regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge University Press. [Introduction chapter]

    Diamond, Larry, 2002. "Elections without democracy: Thinking about hybrid regimes." Journal of democracy 13.2: 21-35.

    Additional

    Diamond, Larry, 2008. "The democratic rollback: the resurgence of the predatory state." Foreign Affairs 86: 36-48.
    • Lecture: Introduction of concepts
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates.

    3

    The problems of democracy in Southeast Asia

    Required

    Dan Slater & Joseph Wong, 2013. “The Strength to Concede: Ruling Parties and Democratization in Developmental Asia” Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 11, Vol.3, pp. 717-733.

    Dan Slater, 2008. “Democracy and Dictatorship Do Not Float Freely” in Southeast Asia in Political Science: Theory, Region and Qualitative Analysis, edited by Erik Martinez Kuhonta, Dan Slater, and Tuong Vu, pp. 55-79.

    Additional

    Morlino, Leonardo, Björn Dressel, and Riccardo Pelizzo, 2011. “The quality of democracy in Asia-Pacific: Issues and findings.” International Political Science Review 32.5: 491-511.
    • Lecture: Introduction on the problems of democracy in Southeast Asia
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates.

    4

    The persistence of authoritarian regimes

    Required

    Levitsky, Steven, and Lucan A. Way, 2002. "Elections without democracy: The rise of competitive authoritarianism." Journal of democracy 13.2: 51-65.

    Levitsky, S, and Lucan A. Way, 2006. “Linkage versus Leverage. Rethinking the International Dimension of Regime Change.” Comparative Politics, vol. 38, no. 4, 2006, pp. 379–400. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20434008

    Additional

    Morgenbesser, Lee, and Thomas B. Pepinsky. 2019.  "Elections as causes of democratization: Southeast Asia in comparative perspective." Comparative Political Studies 52.1: 3-35.
    • Lecture: authoritarianism in Southeast Asia
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates.

    5

    The rise of populist leaders

     

    Required

    Aspinall, Edward, 2015. "Oligarchic populism: Prabowo Subianto's challenge to Indonesian democracy." Indonesia 99 (2015): 1-28.

    Curato, Nicole, 2017. "Flirting with authoritarian fantasies? Rodrigo Duterte and the new terms of Philippine populism." Journal of Contemporary Asia 47.1: 142-153.

    Additional

    Hadiz, Vedi R., and Angelos Chryssogelos, 2017. "Populism in world politics: A comparative cross-regional perspective." International Political Science Review 38.4: 399-411.

    Phongpaichit, Pasuk, and Chris Baker, 2008. "Thaksin's populism." Journal of Contemporary Asia 38.1: 62-83.
    • Lecture: populism in Southeast Asia and why this is a democratic challenge
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates.

    6

    Grasping the “Asian Values”

    Required

    Barr, Michael D, 2000. "Lee Kuan Yew and the “Asian values” debate." Asian Studies Review 24.3: 309-334.

    Subramaniam, Surain., 2000. "The Asian values debate: Implications for the spread of liberal democracy." Asian Affairs: An American Review 27.1 (2000): 19-35.

    Additional

    Thompson, Mark R, 2004. "Pacific Asia after ‘Asian values’: authoritarianism, democracy, and ‘good governance’." Third World Quarterly 25.6: 1079-1095.

    Thompson, Mark R, 2001.  "Whatever happened to" Asian values"?" Journal of Democracy 12.4: 154-165.
    • Lecture: the conundrum of “Asian Values”
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates.

    7

    Thailand: between populism, the monarchy and military-rule

    Required

    McCargo, Duncan, 2019. "Southeast Asia's Troubling Elections: Democratic Demolition in Thailand." Journal of Democracy 30.4: 119-133.

    Schaffar, Wolfram, 2018. "The iron silk road and the iron fist: Making sense of the military coup d’état in Thailand." Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies 11.1: 35-52.

    Additional

    Sombatpoonsiri, Janjira, 2017. "The 2014 military coup in Thailand: Implications for political conflicts and resolution." Asian Journal of Peacebuilding 5.

    Winichakul, Thongchai, 2016. "Thailand's hyper-royalism: Its past success and present predicament." ISEAS Trends in Southeast Asia 7.
    • Lecture: democratic challenges and democratic hopes in Thailand
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates.

    8

    The Philippines: when democracy begets populism and violence

    Required

    Heydarian, Richard Javad. The rise of Duterte: A populist revolt against elite democracy. Springer, 2017.

    Noble, Lela Garner, 1986. "Politics in the Marcos era." In John Bresnan, ed. Crisis in the Philippines: The Marcos era and beyond, Princeton University Press. 70-113.

    Additional

    Ordoñez, Matthew David, and Anthony Lawrence Borja, 2018. "Philippine liberal democracy under siege: The ideological underpinnings of Duterte’s populist challenge." Philippine Political Science Journal 39.2: 139-153.

    Thompson, Mark R, 2016. "Bloodied democracy: Duterte and the death of liberal reformism in the Philippines." Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 35.3: 39-68.
    • Lecture: The Philippines: the oldest democracy in Southeast Asia, and its challenges.
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    9

    Mid-term Week

    No class

    Writing at home

    10

    Indonesia: the rise of pragmatic authoritarianism, religious populism and identity-politics

    Required

    Fukuoka, Yuki, 2012. "Politics, business and the state in post-Soeharto Indonesia." Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs 34.1: 80-100.Hadiz, Vedi R, 2018. "Imagine all the people? Mobilising Islamic populism for right-wing politics in Indonesia." Journal of Contemporary Asia 48.4: 566-583.

    Honna, Jun. 2019. "Civil-Military Relations in an Emerging State: A Perspective from Indonesia’s Democratic Consolidation." Emerging states at crossroads. Springer, Singapore, 255-270.

    Additional

    Pisani, Elizabeth, and Michael Buehler, 2017. "Why do Indonesian politicians promote shari’a laws? An analytic framework for Muslim-majority democracies." Third World Quarterly 38.3: 734-752.

    Simandjuntak, Deasy “Challenges to Indonesia’s Democracy: Beyond Religious Polarization”, Asia Pacific Research Forum No. 69 (2021.06), pp.9-47《亞太研究論壇》第 69期 (2021.06), pp. 9–47.
    • Lecture: Indonesia: the largest Southeast Asian nation and its challenges.
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    11

    Malaysia: a semi-democracy facing a democratic roll-back

    Required

    Ostwald, Kai, and Steven Oliver. 2020. "Four arenas: Malaysia’s 2018 election, reform, and democratization." Democratization 27.4: 662-680.

    Dettman, Sebastian. 2020. "Authoritarian innovations and democratic reform in the “New Malaysia”." Democratization 27.6: 1037-1052.

    Additional

    Weiss, Meredith, 2020.  "The Limits of “Populism”: How Malaysia Misses the Mark and Why That Matters." Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 39.2: 207-226.

    Weiss, Meredith, 2005. "Prickly ambivalence: State, society and semidemocracy in Malaysia." Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 43.1: 61-81.
    • Lecture: Malaysia, affirmative policies, and other democratic challenges.
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    12

    Singapore: the pragmatism of an authoritarian capitalist state

     

    Required

    Chua Beng Huat, 2010. "The cultural logic of a capitalist single-party state, Singapore." Postcolonial Studies 13.4: 335-350.

    Tan, Kenneth Paul, 2012. "The ideology of pragmatism: Neo-liberal globalisation and political authoritarianism in Singapore." Journal of Contemporary Asia 42.1: 67-92

    Additional

    Ortmann, Stephan, and Mark R. Thompson, 2014. "China's obsession with Singapore: learning authoritarian modernity." The Pacific Review 27.3: 433-455.
    • Lecture: Singapore: how democratic is Southeast Asia’s richest country?
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    13

    Cambodia: undemocratic elections and dependence on China

    Po, Sovinda & Kearrin Sims, 2022. The Myth of Non-interference: Chinese Foreign Policy in Cambodia, Asian Studies Review, 46:1, 36-54, DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2021.1887813

    Ngoun, Kimly, 2022. Adaptive Authoritarian Resilience: Cambodian Strongman’s Quest for Legitimacy, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 52:1, 23-44, DOI: 10.1080/00472336.2020.1832241
    • Lecture: Cambodia and China’s relations
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    14

    Vietnam: authoritarian resilience

    Giang, Nguyen Khac. "Succession Politics and Authoritarian Resilience in Vietnam." Southeast Asian Affairs (2020): 411-426.

    Thanh Hai, Do. "Vietnam and China: ideological bedfellows, strange dreamers." Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies 10.2 (2021): 162-182
    • Lecture: Vietnam: navigating socialism and state-led capitalism
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    15

    Myanmar: military-rule and a democratic roll-back

    Required

    Crouch, Melissa, 2021. "States of Legal Denial: How the State in Myanmar Uses Law to Exclude the Rohingya." Journal of Contemporary Asia 51.1: 87-110.

    Stokke, Kristian, and Soe Myint Aung, 2019. "Transition to democracy or hybrid regime? The dynamics and outcomes of democratization in Myanmar." The European Journal of Development Research: 1-20

    Additional

    Egreteau, Renaud, 2021. Why veterans lose: the decline of retired military officers in Myanmar’s post-junta elections, Third World Quarterly, 42:11, 2611-2628, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2021.1976060

    • Lecture: Myanmar’s military and its authoritarian persistence
    • Essay (only for those who chose to submit it)
    • Presentation of the readings (only for one or two students who chose to do it)
    • Other activities: games, simulation, debates

    16

    Film Week

    Film Week

    WATCH FILM:

    The Lady (2011) about Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar

    17

    Presentation Week

    Presentation Week

    Student Final Presentations

    18

    Final Paper Week

    Final Paper Week

    No class

    Submission of Final Papers

    No Homework

     

     

    授課方式Teaching Approach

    30%

    講述 Lecture

    25%

    討論 Discussion

    30%

    小組活動 Group activity

    10%

    數位學習 E-learning

    5%

    其他： Others:

    評量工具與策略、評分標準成效Evaluation Criteria

    Evaluations

    • Attendance and active participation: 10%
    • 2 Presentations (1 essay, 1 final)    : 30%
    • Weekly short essays (6 essays)      : 30%
    • Final paper                                 : 30%

     

    Criterion

    • Attendance and active participation: quality and frequency of contribution to class discussions and intervention. Excellence is marked by continuous contributions to class discussions and interventions which show high levels of analysis. Students should complete the assigned readings prior to the meetings and therefore are prepared to discuss the readings.
    • Presentations: Students present twice: the first one is on the essay topic of their choice, the second one is on the outline of their final paper. Evaluation is based on the quality of argument, evidence of research, presentation structure and cohesiveness, speech flow and quality of oral delivery. Excellence is marked by structured delivery, clear and analytical argument, fluent speech and use of power point or other tools.
    • Weekly short essays: students choose 6 weekly topics on which they would like to write essays. Students write a one-page essay (400-500 words) on at least 2 (two) of the readings, based on 2-3 key points that they deem important to discuss, thus not only a summary of the readings. Short essays are submitted at the end of each meeting.
    • Final paper: The final paper is 5,000 words, focusing on a case study which is analyzed using the theories and concepts learned in the class. Students should consult the instructor about the topics at least four weeks before the paper is due. Evaluation is based on the quality and structure of the written piece, evidence-based and conceptually grounded argument, adequate literature review. The usage of relevant additional materials not listed in this syllabus is encouraged. Excellence is marked by analytical argument, usage of relevant theories and concepts, understanding of current events and well-argued position.

    指定/參考書目Textbook & References

    Please see the course weekly schedule

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    課程相關連結Course Related Links

    NA

    課程附件Course Attachments

    課程進行中，使用智慧型手機、平板等隨身設備 To Use Smart Devices During the Class

    需經教師同意始得使用 Approval

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