Mark R Thompson
Biographic Data
| ID | 302972 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark R Thompson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark R |
| FAMILY NAME | Thompson |
| SIGNATURE | THOMPSON M R |
| AFFILIATIONS | City University of Hong Kong |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7004-3669 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 68 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 594 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 65 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1973 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 14 |
Who is Missing Which Strongman? Competing Authoritarian Nostalgias in the Philippines
Over three years after Ferdinand Marcos Jr. won the Philippine presidency by a landslide, attention has shifted from the nostalgia he invoked for the authoritarian rule of his father, Ferdinand Marcos Sr., to the power struggle between the Marcos and Duterte dynasties. The feud upended conventional wisdom about the nature of authoritarian nostalgia. It is no longer simply about yearning for a bygone dictator as support for a more liberal order wa…
How Much Opposition to Aggrandizers? Explaining Differences in Pushback against Three Philippine Presidents – Addendum
Repression, radicalization and delegitimation: Opposition to autocratization in Southeast Asia
Democratic “Fall,” China’s Rise, and the Limits of Illiberal Realignment in East Asia
Like much of the rest of the world, East Asia (Northeast and Southeast Asia) has recently experienced a democratic “fall” in which several electoral democracies have undergone autocratization. This synchronized with China’s rise through what can be called illiberal realignment as autocratizing regimes in the region have sought increasing material and ideological support from Beijing in the face of Western human rights criticism and occasional (al…
How Much Opposition to Aggrandizers? Explaining Differences in Pushback against Three Philippine Presidents
A major focus of the democratic backsliding literature has been on “executive aggrandizement” in electoral, institutional, and civil societal arenas. An influential explanation of the strength of opposition to aggrandizers contends that the more democratic accountability remains despite illiberal stratagems, the stronger the pushback is likely to be. A single-country temporal comparison of three aggrandizing Philippine presidents—Ferdinand Marcos…
The Philippines: From ‘People Power’ to Democratic Backsliding
This Element explores how in the Philippines a 'whiggish' narrative of democracy and good governance triumphing over dictatorship and kleptocracy after the 'people power' uprising against Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1986 was upended by strongman Rodrigo R. Duterte three decades later. Portraying his father's authoritarian rule as a 'golden age,' Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. succeeded Duterte by easily winning the 2022 presidential election, suggesting dem…
Locating Liberalisms in Southeast Asia: An Introductory Essay
This Introduction argues that Southeast Asian liberalisms have often been misrecognised – or even ignored – by scholars because liberals in the region do not conform to the expectations of ‘benchmark’ liberalism of the West. It points to efforts by liberal actors to promote a viable political discourse or to defend a liberal minimum in hostile environments, often leading localised pragmatic liberalisms to travel far from the ideals of benchmark l…
Transgressing taboos: The relational dynamics of claim radicalization in Hong Kong and Thailand
Claims made during mass protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and Thailand in 2020 became increasingly transgressive. Localist demands and calls for the reform of the monarchy, respectively, violated conventional political norms in these two hybrid regimes. This paper examines the dynamics of opposition discursive radicalization during ongoing autocratization. Observational data and protest event analysis are employed to assess the scaling up of claims-m…
Brute Force Governance: Public Approval Despite Policy Failure During the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Philippines
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed enormous governance deficits globally. Several populist strongmen practiced “medical populism” – ignoring scientific advice, proffering denials, and blaming others. More technocratic leaders recognised its severity, implementing strict lockdowns. But some failed to adopt more flexible restrictions once testing improved due to local enforcement difficulties, termed “blunt force regulation.” Although neither a pand…
Presidentialism and Democracy in East and Southeast Asia
Duterte's Violent Populism: Mass Murder, Political Legitimacy and the "Death of Development" in the Philippines
Among contemporary illiberal populist leaders, only Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has instigated mass murder under the guise of a "war on drugs." Attributed to "penal populism," it must be explained why Duterte won the presidency despite limited concerns about crime, why he organised extra-judicial killings and why this continued despite domestic and international criticism. As president, Duterte nationalised the violent populism he had fi…
The Paradoxes of “Vernacularised” Liberalism in Southeast Asia
In response to “indigenous” justifications of illiberalism (e.g., “Asian values”) and the cronyism of electoral authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia, some pro-democracy activists constructed a “vernacularised” liberal discourse that framed demands for human rights and “good governance” in religious-communalist terms. This countered charges that activists were overly Westernised and supported their calls for ethical rule. Yet, after authoritari…
Pushback after backsliding? Unconstrained executive aggrandizement in the Philippines versus contested military-monarchical rule in Thailand
How do different kinds of democratic backsliding affect opposition pushback? To contribute to the answer, this article compares two divergent cases in the Asia-Pacific – "executive aggrandizement" in the Philippines and a "promissory" military coup in Thailand. An institutional explanation focused on remaining electoral, state institutional, and civil societal forms of democratic accountability despite autocratization does not elucidate significa…
Governance and Democracy in the Asia-Pacific: Political and Civil Society
The Good Versus the Many
Contemporary politics in Thailand and the Philippines have been characterized by two very different views of democracy. On the one hand there is an elite discourse of ‘good governance’ which proclaims the higher morality of elites and the urban middle class who promote political reform. It criticizes elections as manipulated by corrupt politicians who buy poor peoples’ votes. On the other hand, poorer Thais and Filipinos often subscribe to a ‘mor…
China’s ‘Singapore Model’ and Authoritarian Learning
Il Trentino e i trentini nella Grande Guerra: Nuove prospettive di ricerca, ed. Marco Bellabarba and Gustavo Corni
The Kingdom of Italy attacked Austria–Hungary in 1915 to complete the Risorgimento by capturing (‘redeeming’) the remaining imperial territories south of the Alpine watershed. These territories formed part of one Habsburg crownland—the Tyrol, and the entirety of another—the Küstenland or Littoral. In the last census, some 768,000 or 1.5 per cent of Habsburg subjects identified as Italian by language. Half of these lived in Trentino, the southern …
Authoritarian Modernism in East Asia
Legitimizing Authoritarian Modernism: Reactionary Culturalism
The invocation of cultural difference to ward off Western political influences has long been used to legitimize authoritarian modernist rule in different countries, European and Asian, over a century and a half—from Imperial Germany and Meiji Japan to contemporary Singapore and post-Mao China. The themes in this discourse have also been remarkably similar—the stress on “ethical” rule to maintain social harmony while acting in accordance with indi…
The Rise of Illiberal Democracy in the Philippines: Duterte’s Early Presidency
Truth and Fake News about Caporetto: Explaining the Disaster in Italy and in Britain
A lightning victory by combined Austro‐German forces in October 1917 threatened to knock Italy out of the war. This was the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, often called ‘Caporetto’. General Luigi Cadorna, the chief of general staff, branded army units as cowards and blamed them for the disaster. His accusation met with dismay at home and sympathy mixed with disdain abroad. Investigation quickly gave the lie to Cadorna, yet the stain persisted. In B…
Southeast Asia's Troubling Elections: Is There a Silver Lining
In elections held in early 2019, Southeast Asia's already bleak democratic prospects appeared to grow even more dismal. In Thailand, polls merely put a civilian face on military-monarchical rule. In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo's reelection came after concessions to hard-line Islamists. In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte's candidates dominated the midterms, advancing his punitive agenda. But as is often the case with elections in i…
The presidency
Although pork barrel is important in securing presidential power, this chapter argues that the Philippine presidency cannot be reduced to its function as a patronage dispenser. The winners of post-Marcos presidential elections have not necessarily been the candidates with the best patronage machinery but rather those who had the most compelling campaign narrative. Moreover effective patronage distribution cannot guarantee a president’s survival b…
Routledge handbook of the contemporary Philippines
This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy. Researchers, practitioners and policy makers will find this book an invaluable guide to the significance of the informal economy
Perilous presidentialism in Southeast Asia
Regional patterns have long been crucial to debates about presidentialism starting with the Latin American cases in which presidential systems were seen to have contributed to political instability. This special issue examines four cases of presidentialism in Southeast Asia. Both the 'first' wave of the presidentialism literature which focuses on 'pure' cases of presidentialism, and the 'second' wave, which concentrates on a complex mixture of pr…
More than Just the Final Straw: Stolen Elections as Revolutionary Triggers
Stolen elections are triggering events that overcome barriers to revolutionary action against electoral authoritarian regimes.They mobilize ordinary citizens, strengthen the opposition, and divide the regime.As neo-institutionalist theories of revolution suggest, the relative openness of electoral authoritarianism inhibits mass protest.But when elections are stolen, regimes undergo "closure," increasing the probability of protest.The failure of o…
The anti-Marcos struggle: Personalistic rule and democratic transition in the Philippines
Bloodied Democracy: Duterte and the Death of Liberal Reformism in the Philippines
Since assuming the presidency, Rodrigo R. Duterte has “stuck to his guns” in carrying out his campaign pledge to launch a violent anti-drug campaign. Duterte's presidency was preceded by six years of political stability and high growth under the relatively liberal and supposedly reformist administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” S. Aquino, III. What did voters find so appealing about Duterte given that drugs and criminality were not a major n…
"Whatever Happened to "Asian Values
The discourse contrasting the defects of "Western" individualism and democracy with the virtues of "Asian" communitarianism and good governance, which blossomed during East and Southeast Asia's economic boom, has withered since the financial bust of 1997-98. Economic crisis seems to be a particularly effective form of ideological critique. "Asian values," adieu
Electing A Strongman
With a folksy style and tough-guy image, Philippine presidential candidate Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte promised to restore peace and order by any means necessary. Following his surprise victory in the May 2016 elections, Duterte has kept his word, launching the promised anti-drug campaign that saw nearly 1,800 extrajudicial killings within Duterte's first seven weeks in office. Thirty years after the "people power" revolution against the Marcos dict…
Reformism vs. Populism in the Philippines
The Philippines' first automated elections in May 2010 were generally honest and orderly, surprising pessimistic Filipino and foreigner observers alike. "Noynoy" Aquino easily won the presidential race by focusing on his "reformist" credentials, a strategy that his mother (her death in August 2009 led him to launch his candidacy) had adopted against Marcos in 1986. Reformism involves direct media appeals and the claim "I will not steal from you."…
Pushback after backsliding? Unconstrained executive aggrandizement in the Philippines versus contested military-monarchical rule in Thailand
How do different kinds of democratic backsliding affect opposition pushback? To contribute to the answer, this article compares two divergent cases in the Asia-Pacific – "executive aggrandizement" in the Philippines and a "promissory" military coup in Thailand. An institutional explanation focused on remaining electoral, state institutional, and civil societal forms of democratic accountability despite autocratization does not elucidate significa…
Stolen Elections: The Case of the Serbian October
Stolen Elections:The Case of the Serbian October Mark R. Thompson (bio) and Philipp Kuntz (bio) The overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia's so-called October Revolution four years ago was briefly celebrated by the international press, and it also received extensive attention from scholars. Such accounts focused on why and how the opposition won the September 2000 presidential ballot as well as on the organizing of the ensuing uprising. But th…
Pacific Asia after ‘Asian values’: Authoritarianism, democracy, and ‘good governance’
The 1997 Asian economic crisis discredited the international discussion about 'Asian values' in Pacific Asia, replacing it with a globalised 'good governance' discourse. The financial breakdown undermined claims by Asian autocrats that government should be based on authoritarian 'Asian values', not 'Western democracy'. Yet, seven years later, authoritarian regimes in the region are flourishing while the new democracies flounder. Why have dictator…
Populism and the Revival of Reform: Competing Political Narratives in the Philippines
The announcement by actor-politician Joseph Ejercito Estrada in October 2009 that he would run again for the presidency in the May 2010 election (dubbed his take candidacy) sent a collective shiver through the Philippine political elite and business oligarchy. Estrada had been deposed as President by an elite-led people power coup in 2001. Accused of massive malfeasance in office, Estrada was placed under house arrest, convicted and sentenced to …
China's obsession with Singapore: Learning authoritarian modernity
Chinese government officials and academics have shown disproportionate interest in the small city-state of Singapore. The Southeast Asian country with a majority ethnic Chinese population has drawn their attention because it is the only country in the world that combines advanced industrial development with stable one-party rule. Singapore not only seemingly defies Western predictions that modernization will inevitably lead to democracy, but also…
Duterte's Violent Populism: Mass Murder, Political Legitimacy and the "Death of Development" in the Philippines
Among contemporary illiberal populist leaders, only Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has instigated mass murder under the guise of a "war on drugs." Attributed to "penal populism," it must be explained why Duterte won the presidency despite limited concerns about crime, why he organised extra-judicial killings and why this continued despite domestic and international criticism. As president, Duterte nationalised the violent populism he had fi…
Off the Endangered List: Philippine Democratization in Comparative Perspective
The Philippines has long been on the most endangered list of new democracies. There have been more coup attempts (eight) in the Philippines than in any other wave democratizer.' It is one of only few states to still face Communist insurgency. Moreover, many civilian, noncommunist politicians were openly disloyal to the government of Corazon C. Aquino, including her vice president, Salvador H. Laurel. These political problems are compounded by soc…
China and the “Singapore Model
Following the death of Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew in March 2015, China remains obsessed with Singapore, the only country in the region to achieve advanced economic industrialization without undergoing substantial political liberalization. The key “lesson” that China is trying to learn is how to combine authoritarian rule with “good governance” (“meritocratic” one-party rule). The impact of the “Singapore model” on China shows that l…
The Politics Philippine Presidents Make: Presidential-style, Patronage-based, or Regime Relational?
In political systems with a powerful chief executive, such as in the Philippines, an essential element in the analysis of politics is a clear understanding of the impact of presidential politics. Two analytical theories have tried to understand this phenomenon: (1) a voluntarist, actor-centered, presidential-style approach, and (2) a structuralist, patronage-based approach. This article shows that neither approach provides a satisfactory account …
The Early Duterte Presidency in the Philippines
After only a little over a half year in power, as of this writing, Rodrigo's R. Duterte presidency already represents a sea change in Philippine politics. Despite the personal popularity of Benigno "Noynoy" S. Aquino III (who had the highest opinion poll ratings among post-Marcos presidents), Duterte has quickly replaced a "liberal reformist" political order with its emphasis on civil liberties, if limited political participation, with an illiber…
The Moral Economy of Electoralism and the Rise of Populism in the Philippines and Thailand
In the Philippines and Thailand, two radically different "tales of democracy" are told: an elitist national narrative critiquing electoral "corruption" epitomized by vote buying and a local interpretation of elections in which politicians are judged according to the extent to which they benefit voters' community and affirm poor people's self-worth. The disadvantaged population's community-based, mutualist voting behavior can be understood as a "m…
Asia's Hybrid Dynasties
Political dynasties seem to flourish in Asia, whatever the political system. But this is not a relapse into traditional rule. Political dynasties are modern hybrids in which elite political aims are linked to popular norms of charismatic legitimacy. They are found in non-democratic regimes, electoral democracies and democratic movements, providing key advantages in a context of weak institutions or institutional decay. The author's detailed analy…
Female Leadership of Democratic Transitions in Asia
t is striking how often, over the last decade-and-a-half, women have led successful popular uprisings against dictatorships in Asia. Corazon C. Aquino in the Philippines (1986), Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan (1988), Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladesh (1990) and Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia (1998) inspired and organized mass protests against non-democratic regimes. They then guided precarious transitions to democracy. Aquino was …
The Specter of Neo-Authoritarianism in the Philippines
Duterte appeals to those in Philippine society yearning for the reimposition of ‘discipline’ in the spirit of the former dictator Marcos
To Shoot or Not to Shoot: Posttotalitarianism in China and Eastern Europe
Democratic revolutionary movements in China, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) started similarly, as nonviolent, mass-based protests against hard-line regimes. Yet little more than a decade later the massacre at Tiananmen Square in China and the triumphant revolutions of eastern Europe appear to have left little in common. The subsequent direction of these countries could hardly have been more different. After ordering the …
The Making of chancellor Merkel
As a woman and an East German, Angela Merkel beat long political odds to become chancellor of Germany in November 2005. In addition, she overcame her party's poor electoral performance, out-manoeuvring political rivals in negotiations for a 'grand coalition'. Merkel's rise to power can be divided into three phases. Like many other female political leaders of her generation in Germany, she was initially apolitical. She only became politically acti…
No Exit: Nation-Stateness' and Democratization in the German Democratic Republic
A variable affecting the chances of regime exit – weak ‘nation-stateness' – has often been overlooked. If a country enjoys no single, exclusive national identity, then democratic transition poses a threat to the survival of the state and the interests connected with it. The Honecker regime was unwilling to exit from communism–unlike Polish and Hungarian parties which negotiated democratic transition with the opposition – because it (rightly) fear…
Transgressing taboos: The relational dynamics of claim radicalization in Hong Kong and Thailand
Claims made during mass protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and Thailand in 2020 became increasingly transgressive. Localist demands and calls for the reform of the monarchy, respectively, violated conventional political norms in these two hybrid regimes. This paper examines the dynamics of opposition discursive radicalization during ongoing autocratization. Observational data and protest event analysis are employed to assess the scaling up of claims-m…
The Philippine presidency in Southeast Asian perspective: Imperiled and Imperious Presidents but Not Perilous Presidentialism
Among the neglected cases of presidential systems in Southeast Asia, the Philippines is particularly interesting as the oldest in the region and as a 'pure' case of presidentialism which provides seemingly strong evidence for its 'perilousness'. 'First wave' presidentialism theory appears to explain how competing legitimacy claims between a president and the legislature contributed to the downfall of a sitting president (Joseph E. Estrada in 2001…
Compulsory Arbitration: The Case of British Columbia Teachers
Examination of a system of compulsory arbitration that has regulated labor relations for all public school teachers in British Columbia from 1937 through 1973. Description of the environment of labor relations in the country; Discussion of labor-management negotiations in British Columbia; Information on the bargaining parties; Results of arbitration. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)
Collective Bargaining and the Public Interest: A Welfare Economics Assessment
The limits of democratisation in Asean
(1993). The limits of democratisation in ASEAN. Third World Quarterly: Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 469-484
The anti-Marcos struggle: Personalistic rule and democratic transition in the Philippines
Demokratische Institutionalisierung in Ost- und Südostasien: Verlaufsmuster und Perspektiven in Taiwan, Südkorea, Thailand und den Philippinen
Die Schwellenländer Ost- und Südostasiens haben wegen ihrer eindrucksvollen Wachstumsraten viel Aufmerksamkeit auf sich gezogen. Weniger beachtet wurden hingegen die markanten politischen Veränderungen der letzten Jahre. Angefangen mit der “Revolution der Rosenkränze” (oft “people power” genannt) auf den Philippinen im Jahre 1986 kam es zu demokratischen Systemwechseln in Taiwan (1986/87) und Südkorea (1987) sowie zu einem Prozeß erneuter Redemok…
Late industrialisers, late democratisers: Developmental states in the Asia-Pacific
A sound generalisation in the social sciences is that theories pronounced dead will continue to haunt the discipline long thereafter. A case in point is so-called modernisation theory. This is the claim that economic growth first leads to social mobilisation-urbanisation, mass communication, growth in literacy and the degree of formal education, the creation of new social classes (particularly the working, middle and business classes), etc-which …
No Exit: Nation-Stateness' and Democratization in the German Democratic Republic
A variable affecting the chances of regime exit – weak ‘nation-stateness' – has often been overlooked. If a country enjoys no single, exclusive national identity, then democratic transition poses a threat to the survival of the state and the interests connected with it. The Honecker regime was unwilling to exit from communism–unlike Polish and Hungarian parties which negotiated democratic transition with the opposition – because it (rightly) fear…
Off the Endangered List: Philippine Democratization in Comparative Perspective
The Philippines has long been on the most endangered list of new democracies. There have been more coup attempts (eight) in the Philippines than in any other wave democratizer.' It is one of only few states to still face Communist insurgency. Moreover, many civilian, noncommunist politicians were openly disloyal to the government of Corazon C. Aquino, including her vice president, Salvador H. Laurel. These political problems are compounded by soc…
Why and how East Germans rebelled
The Decline of Philippine Communism: A Review Essay
In the late 1990s, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is a squabbling political sect, looked upon with contempt by conservatives and with considerable embarrassment by progressives. The contributors to the book reviewed here advance the thesis that the decline of Philippine communism is closely linked to the communists' boycott of elections before the fall of Marcos in the mid-1980s and their subsequent marginalization in the national p…
Reluctant revolutionaries: Anti‐fascism and the east German opposition
The leaders of the East German uprising were reluctant revolutionaries who refused to seize power from a collapsing regime, instead helping communist reformers survive societal rebellion. However critical these dissidents were of communist rule in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), a commitment to anti‐fascism led them to enter into a dialogue with the regime in an effort to make it live up to its own ideals. The ideology of communist anti‐fas…
Whatever happened to democratic revolutions
Why, just over ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, have we long stopped speaking of democratic revolutions? For theorists of revolution they bring 'too little' social transformation to be considered revolutionary. Transitologists', by contrast, fear 'too much' change, thereby endangering democratization through radicalization. Even if it is accepted that there have been democratic revolutions in the past, 'civilization dashers' claim it …
The survival of 'Asian values' as 'Zivilisationskritik
Peacekeeping and Public Information. Ingrid A. Lehmann, London and Portland, Or: Frank Cass, 1999. 175 pp. pound16.50
To Shoot or Not to Shoot: Posttotalitarianism in China and Eastern Europe
Democratic revolutionary movements in China, Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) started similarly, as nonviolent, mass-based protests against hard-line regimes. Yet little more than a decade later the massacre at Tiananmen Square in China and the triumphant revolutions of eastern Europe appear to have left little in common. The subsequent direction of these countries could hardly have been more different. After ordering the …
"Whatever Happened to "Asian Values
The discourse contrasting the defects of "Western" individualism and democracy with the virtues of "Asian" communitarianism and good governance, which blossomed during East and Southeast Asia's economic boom, has withered since the financial bust of 1997-98. Economic crisis seems to be a particularly effective form of ideological critique. "Asian values," adieu
Totalitarian and Post-Totalitarian Regimes in Transitions and Non-Transitions from Communism
Proponents of totalitarianism theory felt indicated by the fall of eastern European communism. Yet if these regimes were really so 'totalitarian', why did they collapse in 1989? Outside of Europe, by contrast, several communist regimes survived. This apparent paradox can be resolved by adding 'post-totalitarianism' to the analysis. It not only enables differences in the vulnerability of communist regimes to transitions to be better understood, bu…
Female Leadership of Democratic Transitions in Asia
t is striking how often, over the last decade-and-a-half, women have led successful popular uprisings against dictatorships in Asia. Corazon C. Aquino in the Philippines (1986), Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan (1988), Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladesh (1990) and Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia (1998) inspired and organized mass protests against non-democratic regimes. They then guided precarious transitions to democracy. Aquino was …
Democratic Revolutions: Asia and Eastern Europe
Despite enormous differences between Asia and Eastern Europe, there are striking similarities between the peaceful, spontaneous, urban-based and cross-class democratic uprisings against unyielding dictatorships that have occurred in the two regions. The book explores the kind of non-democratic regimes that are particularly vulnerable to democratic revolutions. It examines why and how democrats rebel and what the results of democratic revolutions …
Pacific Asia after ‘Asian values’: Authoritarianism, democracy, and ‘good governance’
The 1997 Asian economic crisis discredited the international discussion about 'Asian values' in Pacific Asia, replacing it with a globalised 'good governance' discourse. The financial breakdown undermined claims by Asian autocrats that government should be based on authoritarian 'Asian values', not 'Western democracy'. Yet, seven years later, authoritarian regimes in the region are flourishing while the new democracies flounder. Why have dictator…
Stolen Elections: The Case of the Serbian October
Stolen Elections:The Case of the Serbian October Mark R. Thompson (bio) and Philipp Kuntz (bio) The overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia's so-called October Revolution four years ago was briefly celebrated by the international press, and it also received extensive attention from scholars. Such accounts focused on why and how the opposition won the September 2000 presidential ballot as well as on the organizing of the ensuing uprising. But th…
Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition
The Making of chancellor Merkel
As a woman and an East German, Angela Merkel beat long political odds to become chancellor of Germany in November 2005. In addition, she overcame her party's poor electoral performance, out-manoeuvring political rivals in negotiations for a 'grand coalition'. Merkel's rise to power can be divided into three phases. Like many other female political leaders of her generation in Germany, she was initially apolitical. She only became politically acti…
Presidentas and People Power in Comparative Asian Perspective
There have been a dozen dynastic female leaders in ten countries in Asia over the last half-century. They were the widows, wives, or daughters of male politicians arrested or killed by political opponents. What distinguishes Philippine presidentas from previous women in power in the region is their revolutionary role. Dynastic politics was a factor in Corazon C. Aquino's rise to presidential leadership, but her gendered "moral capital" was decisi…
People Power Sours: Uncivil Society in Thailand and the Philippines
In both countries, mass-based urban campaigns against authoritarianism have degenerated into an assault on democracy
Political science (58 works) · Law (53 works) · Politics (50 works) · Sociology (40 works) · Law (39 works) · Political economy (36 works) · Democracy (35 works) · Asian Studies and History (31 works) · Philippine History and Culture (27 works) · Economics (22 works)