OF UNIVERSITY TORONTO DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 2004-2005
POL 428H/2413H: Politics in Southeast Asia Thursdays 2:00-4:00 p.m. Professor Jacques Bertrand Munk Centre for International Studies, Rm 107N, Tel: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Web page: www.chass.utoronto.ca/~bertrand Office hours: Mondays, 10:00-12:00 pm, or by appointment Course description This course offers a comparative analysis of states and societies in Southeast Asia. It emphasizes three topics this year: i) democracy and authoritarianism; ii) Islam and politics; iii) ethnic politics and nationalism. In the first section of the course, we will analyze the processes leading to democratization in Southeast Asia, particularly in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. Other countries will be examined for their resilience to authoritarianism. According to theories of democratic change, Singapore and Burma/Myanmar should be strong contenders for democratization (for different reasons), yet both regimes appear to be strong and stable. We will compare their experiences to the new democracies in neighboring countries. The second section of the course will be devoted to an in-depth analysis of political Islam in Southeast Asia. This discussion will be situated within a broader examination of Islamic politics. Finally, in the last section of the course, we will discuss a few of the many issues involving ethnic politics. Student Work and Evaluation This course is a seminar for senior undergraduate and graduate students. In each session, one student will present and guide the first part of the discussion (presentations should be limited to 20 minutes). Presentations should be related to the theme and readings of the week, but could use additional materials if necessary to provide a theoretically informed analysis of a particular aspect of the week's materials. Presentations must be written and submitted at the end of class. There is a strong emphasis on class participation in this seminar. This participation includes a minimal grade for attendance. Most of the grades will be determined by the extent to which students show evidence of having carefully read the materials of the week, given thought to them, and made significant contributions to class discussions. 1) Undergraduate students Research Paper (no more than 5000 words, due December 5): Class Presentations (usually two): (20% written part; 10% delivery of presentation) Participation: 2) Graduate students 45% 30% 25%
Research Paper (no more than 6500 words, due ): Class Presentations (usually two): (20% written part; 10% delivery of presentation) Participation:
45% 30% 25%
Please note: I am using a university wide service called Turnitin. Turnitin.com is an electronic resource that assists in the detection and deterrence of plagiarism. Students agree that by taking this course all required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to Turnitin.com for the detection of plagiarism. I might request an electronic copy of your paper or might scan part of your paper to submit to Turnitin.com .The terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the Turnitin.com web site.
Background Readings: These books are general texts on Southeast Asia. They might be helpful to introduce you to institutions and political issues in individual countries. Harold Crouch, Government and Society in Malaysia, Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1996. Adam Schwarz, A Nation in Waiting, Indonesia's search for stability, 2nd edition, Boulder : Westview Press, 2000. Wurfel, David Filipino Politics : Development and Decay Cornell University Press, 1988 Girling, John. Thailand: Society and Politics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981. Taylor, Robert H. The State in Burma. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987. Textbook available for purchase: Robert W. Hefner, Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000, available at the University of Toronto Bookstore Jacques Bertrand, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), available at the University of Toronto Bookstore Duncan, Christopher R. Civilizing the Margins: Southeast Asian Government Policies for the Development of Minorities,(Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004). Reader for POL 428H/2413H-F, available at The Three Cent Copy Centre, at 740 Spadina Avenue just south of Bloor Street. Open Monday to Friday from 9 am to 7 pm and on Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. Tel: [phone]
Reading assignments:
***NOTE***: Most articles are available on-line from the library gateway. Your student number is required to access these readings.
All other articles and book chapters are in the reader.
1. Introduction to the course (Sept. 9) Theme 1: Democracy and Authoritarianism 2. The Philippines: revolution and weak democracy (Sept. 16) @Thompson, Mark R. Off the endangered list: Philippine democratization in comparative perspective. Comparative Politics. v. 28, Jan. 1996, p. 179-205. @Reid, B "The Philippine democratic uprising and the contradictions of neoliberalism: EDSA II, Third World Quarterly, 22 (5), October 2001, pp. 777-793 @Abinales, PN "Coalition politics in the Philippines," Current History, April 2001, pp. 154-161 @Ruland, J Constitutional debates in the Philippines - From presidentialism to parliamentarianism? Asian Survey, 43 (3), May-Jun 2003
3. Indonesia: a fragile transition (Sept. 23) @Liddle, R. William. "Indonesia's democratic past and future," Comparative Politics, 24 (4), 1992, pp. 179-208.
**Bell, Gary F."Indonesia: the new regional autonomy laws, two years later Southeast Asian Affairs (Singapore) (2003) 117-131
@Hara, Abubakar E. "The difficult journey of democratization in Indonesia,"Contemporary Southeast Asia, 23, no.2 2001), (Aug pp. 307-326 @Chandra, Siddharth and Kammen, Douglas "Generating reforms and reforming generations: military politics in Indonesia's democratic transition and consolidation", World Politics 55 (1), Oct. 2002, pp. 96-136.
@Liddle, R. William, Indonesia's Approaching Elections: Politics, Islam, and Public Opinion," Journal of Democracy 15:1 (January 2004)
4. Thailand: toward democratic consolidation? (Sept. 30) @King, Daniel; LoGerfo, Jim. " Thailand: toward democratic stability". Journal of Democracy. v. 7, Jan. 1996, p. 102-17. @Ungpakorn, JG "From tragedy to comedy: Political reform in Thailand Journal Of Contemporary Asia, 32 (2), 2002, pp. 191-205 @Englehart, NA "Democracy and the Thai middle class - Globalization,
modernization, and constitutional change," Asian Survey, March-April, 2003, pp. 253279 @McCargo, D. "Democracy under stress in Thaksin's Thailand," Journal Of Democracy, 13 (4), October 2002, pp. 112-126
5. Singapore: one-party state, illiberal democracy or authoritarianism? (Oct. 7) **Rodan, Garry. "Preserving the one-party state in contemporary Singapore," in Kevin Hewison, Richard Robison, and Garry Rodan, eds. Southeast Asia in the 1990s: Authoritarianism, Democracy and Capitalism, Allen and Unwin, 1993, pp.75-108. **Barr, MD, "Perpetual revisionism in Singapore: the limits of change," Pacific Review, 16 (1), 2003, pp. 77-97 @Mutalib, H. "Illiberal democracy and the future of opposition in Singapore, Third World Quarterly April 2000, pp. 313-342 @Rodan, G "The Internet and political control in Singapore," Political Science Quarterly, 113, Spring 1998, pp. 63-89. 6. Burma: the persistence of authoritarian rule (Oct. 14) @Thawnghmung, AM "Preconditions and prospects for democratic transition in Burma/Myanmar, Asian Survey, Mai-Juin 2003, pp. 443-460 @Aung-Thwin, M. "Parochial universalism, democracy Jihad and the orientalist image of Burma: The new evangelism," Pacific Affairs, Winter 2001, pp. 483 @Reynolds, A; Stepan, A; Oo, Z, Levine, S., "How Burma could democratize,"Journal Of Democracy, October 2001, pp. 95-108. @Josef Silverstein. "The Idea of Freedom in Burma and the Political Thought of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi", Pacific Affairs, 69: 2, 1996 , pp. 211-228. 7. Malaysia and Singapore: Ethnic politics and the state (Oct. 21) **Harold Crouch, Chap. 9 "Communalism, identity and consociationalism" , Government and Society in Malaysia, Ithaca, N.Y. : Cornell University Press, 1996, pp. 152-177 **R. S. Milne and Diane K. Mauzy, chap. 4 "Containing ethnic discontent," Malaysian Politics Under Mahathir. Politics in Asia Series. London: Routledge, 1999, pp. 80-102 **Dan Slater, "Iron Cage in an Iron Fist - Authoritarian Institutions and the Personalization of Power in Malaysia." Comparative Politics 36, no. 1 (2003): 81-. Theme 2: Ethnic politics and nationalism
8. Ethnic politics in Indonesia (Oct. 28)
Jacques Bertrand, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 9. The Chinese in Southeast Asia (Nov. 4) **Daniel Chirot and Anthony Reid (eds). Essential Outsiders: Chinese and Jews in the Modern Transformation of Southeast Asia and Central Europe, Seattle, London: University of Washington Press. Chap. 2 (on Entrepreneurial Minorities, pp. 33-71; chap. 6, pp. 153183 (on anti-Sinicism and Chinese Identity Options in the Philippines); chap. 7, pp. 187207 (on Anti-Sinicism in J...