The course introduces the contemporary history and politics of Southeast Asia, a large region with a population of over 600 million. The main focus will be on economic development and societal change. It begins by examining the state-formation process, highlighting the challenges resulting from colonial legacies and the competing projects promoted by different actors. It will then explore key events of the Cold War period, which continue to impact society today. Next, the course will focus on economic development, examining the integration of different countries into regional and global production systems. A major regional economic crisis in 1997-98 halted the dream that Southeast Asian countries could replicate the so-called economic miracle of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. Attention will then turn to the quality of economic growth in the region, also exploring the lives of the poor and vulnerable. As the region became a major manufacturing hub for garments and electronics, this also led to an increase in the number of industrial workers, with characteristics quite different from the rise of an industrial proletariat in the West. The crisis in development projects triggered by the 1997/98 financial crisis also produced a major political impasse that remains unresolved in countries like Thailand and Malaysia. While Southeast Asia appeared to be advancing towards democratization in the 1990s, populism and authoritarianism have substantially prevailed over the following two decades. Finally, the course will examine the new centrality of Southeast Asia in the context of the “new Cold War” between China and the United States in the South China Sea.

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

* Understand Political Issues in Southeast Asia

* Appreciate Southeast Asia’s Political Diversity2

* Research Contemporary Southeast Asian Political Issues

* Frame Problems from Multiple Perspectives

* Recognize the Range and Breadth of Regional Political Challenges

* Evaluate Societal and State Political Engagement in Southeast Asia

* Formulate their Own Views on Southeast Asian Politics

* Compare Experiences in Southeast Asia with that of their own Countries/Region

Absences should be rare and reserved for unforeseen circumstances. You cannot make up a midterm or final without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Associate Dean’s office should not be involved in correspondence regarding any other type of routine absence. This means that if you need to return home for a funeral, if you need to go to the dentist, if you have a fingerprinting appointment, if you are ill, or for any other reason that I have not listed, you simply do not come to class that day and you contact a colleague to find out what went on in class. Let us all agree that if you need to be absent, I believe you and I trust that you will find out what you missed from a colleague. Let’s create a world in which we believe each other and trust that we would be in class every session if we could. Let us focus on building skills of direct student-professor communication rather than asking others to intervene on routine absence matters on our behalf.  It should go without saying that frequent absences will mean you are less prepared to meet the learning objectives of the course. Thus, your grade will suffer because, simply put, you are unfamiliar with what we have done in class. At the 5th absence, you will be asked to withdraw from the course. 

There are always one or two obvious common sense extreme exceptions to this aspiration, but generally it is best to avoid triggering institutional responses for routine short-term absences. The bottom line is that every student, including you, is a treasured resource for each class. We need you as much as you need us. Without you, it's just not the same.

Week 1 – Introduction to the region

Readings:

Antony Reid (215) “People in the Humid Tropics”, A History of Southeast Asia: Critical Crossroads. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons.

Robert Dayley (2024) “Introduction: Southeast Asia Political Economy”, Southeast Asia in the New International Era.9th Edition. Boulder, Co: Westview Press,  pp. 1-26.

Week 2 – Colonial legacy

Norman G. Owen (ed.) (2005) “Part 4: Passages out of the Colonial Era”, The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia: A New History. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, pp. 283-378.

Week 3  – Independence and national forces I

James R. Rush (2018) “Chapter 4: Nations”, Southeast Asia: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford. Oxford University Press,pp. 102-129.  

Vincent Houben (2003) “Southeast Asia and Islam,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences,July, pp. 149-170.

 Week 4 – Independence and national forces II

James R. Rush (2018) “Chapter 5: The past in the present”, Southeast Asia: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford. Oxford University Press, pp. 130-154.  

Benedict Anderson (1990) “The Idea of Power in Javanese: Its Setting and Development,” in Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Itaha. Cornell University Press, pp. 17-77

Week 5 – The Cold War in Southeast Asia

Fredrik Logevall (2010) “The Indochina wars and the Cold War”, in Melvyn P. Leffler, Odd Arne Westad, The Cambridge History Of The Cold War, Vol. II Crises and Détente. Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, pp. 281-304.

Robert Cribb (2001) “Genocide in Indonesia, 1965‐1966”, Journal of Genocide Research, 3(2), pp. 219-239, 

Week 6 – Economic development 

Toby Carroll (2020) “The Political Economy of Southeast Asia’s Development from Independence to Hyperglobalisation”, in Toby Carroll, Shahar Hameiri and Lee Jones (eds), The Political Economy of Southeast Asia.  Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.35-84.

Richard Doner (2012) “Politics, institutions and performance: explaining growth
variation in East Asia”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 151-173.

Week 7 – Politics and society

Vedi R. Hadiz (2012) “Democracy and money politics: the case of Indonesia”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 71-82.

Pasuk Phongpaichit and Chris Baker (2012)  “Populist challenge to the establishment: Thaksin Shinawatra and the transformation of Thai politics”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 83-96.

Lee Jones (2012) “State power, social conflicts and security policy in Southeast Asia”,  “Populist challenge to the establishment: Thaksin Shinawatra and the transformation of Thai politics”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 346-360.

Week 8 – Politics and society II

Kevin Hewison, Garry Rodan (2012) “Southeast Asia: The Left and the rise of bourgeois opposition”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 25-39.

Jeffrey A. Winters (2012) “Oligarchs and oligarchy in Southeast Asia”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 53-67.

Martin Gainsborough (2012) “Vietnam: the ruling Communist Party and the incubation of
‘new’ political forces”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 135-148.

Week 9 – Development for whom? Poverty and exclusion

Jonathan Rigg (2016) “Chapters 3,4, and 5”, Challenging Southeast Asian Development. London: Routledge, 2016.

Week 10 – Industry and labor

Jane Hutchison (2012) “Labour politics in Southeast Asia: the Philippines in comparative perspective”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 40-52.

Pietro Masina, Michela Cerimele (2018) “Patterns of Industrialisation and the State of Industrial Labour in Post-WTO-Accession Vietnam”, European Journal of East Asian Studies,  17 (2), pp. 289-323.

Week 11 – State, region and the global

Michele Ford (2012) “Contested borders, contested boundaries: the politics of labour
migration in Southeast Asia”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 305-314.

Helen E.S. Nesadurai (2012) “Trade policy in Southeast Asia: politics, domestic interests and the forging of new accommodations in the regional and global economy”, Richard Robison (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. Oxon and New York: Routledge, pp. 315-329.

Week 12 – Group presentations

Week 13 – Southeast Asia in the new Cold War

David Shambaugh (2018) “U.S.-China Rivalry in Southeast Asia”, International Security, 42(4), pp. 85-127 

Drew Thompson (2024) Don’t Make Us Choose Sides: Southeast Asian Perspectives of U.S. Strategy and Presence in the Region, Centre on Asia and Globalisation, Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy, March, pp. 1-21.

Week 14 – Final review