LECTURE | Prof. Aurel Croissant: Civil-military relations in Southeast Asia

"Civil-military relations in Southeast Asia"

Professor Dr. Aurel Croissant (University of Heidelberg)

19 January 2012 / 8 pm (20h c.t.) / Room 1199, KG I

This is the fifth lecture in the lecture series
Democratization in Southeast Asia – Opportunities and Challenges

The lecture series analyzes the trajectories of political and socioeconomic development in Southeast Asia. Most observers agree that the region has been a great economic success story. Even the Asian financial crisis of 1997/1998 with its disastrous consequences interrupted Southeast Asia’s unprecedented economic growth only briefly. In the meantime, Indonesia, the most badly hit economy in the region, has also returned to robust economic growth. Much less persuasive is the region’s political development. Rapid economic growth has not been paralleled by democratization. Today democracy indices rate only Indonesia as a full-fledged democracy. The Philippines and Thailand, once Southeast Asia’s democratic frontrunners, have receded to hybrid political systems with serious democratic deficits. All other political systems of the region are either of a “soft authoritarian” or fully autocratic type of various shades. The lecture series concentrates on the process of democratic consolidation and the obstacles it faces in the region’s three democratic polities: Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Noted Southeast Asianists examine critical factors of democratization in these countries: Constitutional and institutional changes, the role of political elites, local government performance, civil-military relations and foreign policymaking.