Numbering Code	G-AAA05 85135 LE31	Year/Term	2022 ・ First semester
Number of Credits	2	Course Type
Target Year	From 1st to 5th year students	Target Student
Language	English	Day/Period	Tue.2
Instructor name	Pavin Chachavalpongpun (Center for Southeast Asian Studies Associate Professor)
Outline and Purpose of the Course	This course focuses on a wide range of literatures on comparative politics. In keeping with the spirit of comparative political science, most lectures involve a key paired comparison of two countries. We will also demonstrate how paired comparisons are changeable, given the types of questions one is pursuing. We will concentrate on six countries in Southeast Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Burma. To fulfill the purpose of this course, we will discuss key themes from a comparative perspective, including the study of institutions, state formation and state-society relations, types of regime, political culture, political economy, and resistance and revolution.
Course Goals	To encouage students to think beyond the normative understanding of "Southeast Asia" and look into critical contemporary issues facing the region--issues that had their historical origin. Also, to expect student's active participation in class discussion, from the students' viewpoint that may challenge and contest the normative understanding of this region.
Schedule and Contents	Class Schedule 1. Introduction 2. Southeast Asia: Natural Region or Production of Power/Knowledge? Donald Emmerson, “‘Southeast Asia: What’s in a Name?” Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (March 1984). Duncan McCargo and Robert H. Taylor, “Politics,” An Introduction to Southeast Asian Studies, ed. Mohmmed Halib and Tim Huxley (1996). 3. State Formation and Colonialism John S. Furnivall, The Fashioning of Leviathan: The Beginnings of British Rule in Burma (Canberra: The Australian National University Press, 1991). 4. Nationalism and Southeast Asia Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1992). 5. Southeast Asia and the World Benedict Anderson, The Spectre of Comparison: Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the World (London: Verso 1998). 6. Military Rule: Burma and Indonesia Mary Callahan, “Burma: Soldiers as State Builders,” in Muthiah Alagappa (ed) Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia (2001). Vince Boudreau, Resisting Dictatorship (2004), ch 4. Adam Schwarz, A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s, ch 2. 7. Democratic stagnation: Thailand and the Philippines Baker and Phongpaichit, A History of Thailand, chs 6,7. Abinales and Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines (2005), ch 8. Pavin Chachavalpongpun, ed., Coup, King, Crisis: A Critical Interregnum in Thailand (2020). 8. Party Rule: Vietnam and Malaysia William Case, Politics in Southeast Asia (2002), ch. 4. Gareth Porter, Vietnam, ch. 1. 9. Authoritarianism and Separatism Jacques Bertrand, Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia, ch 8. Ivan Molloy (1988) “The Decline of the Moro National Liberation Front in the Southern Philippines,” Journal of Contemporary Asia, 18, 1. 10. Democratisation: National/Local, Rural/Urban Struggles: Philippines and Thailand Abinales and Amoroso, State and Society in the Philippines, chs 9 and 10. Anek Laothamatas, “A tale of two democracies: Conflicting Perceptions of elections and democracy in Thailand,” in Robert Taylor (ed.), The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia (1996). John Sidel, “Democratisation and Bossism in Contemporary Thailand and the Philippines,” IDS Bulletin, 27, 2 (April 1996). 11. Democratisation: Stalled: Burma and Vietnam Benedict Kerkvliet, “Village-State Relations in Vietnam: The Effect of Everyday Politics on Decollectivisation” (Journal of Asian Studies, 54, 2, 1995). Kyaw Yin Hlaing, “The Politics of State-Society in Burma,” South East Asia Research, 15, 2, 2007). 12. Democratisation: Now That He’s Gone… Indonesia and Malaysia William Case, “Malaysia: New Reforms, Old Continuities and Tense Ambiguities,” Working Paper Series, No. 51, Sep 2003, available at <http://www.cityu.edu.hk/searc>. Vedi Hadiz and Richard Robison, “Neo-Liberal Reforms and Illiberal Consolidations: The Indonesian Paradox,” 2003, available at <http://www.cityu.edu.hk/searc>. Meredith Weiss, “What a Little Democracy Can Do: Comparing Trajectories of Reform in Malaysia and Indonesia,” Democratisation (14, 1, 2007). 13. The Military Mary P. Callahan, War and State-Building in Burma (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2005). 14. Social Movements Vincent G. Boudreau, Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in Southeast Asia (London: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 15. Legitimacy Muthiah Alagappa, ed., Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995).
Evaluation Methods and Policy	The student grade is divided into the following: essays (50%); contribution to class discussion (40%); attendance (10%)
Course Requirements	Each student is required to read the week’s assignment in its entirety before coming to class. (The books/articles are available at the CSEAS library.) Each student will write a 2-3 page critical review essay on one of the readings to be submitted the day before class (so I can read it and prepare my comments). If you fail to submit the essay on time, you need not appear in class. One student will be assigned to lead each week’s discussion. The reflection essay is not a mere summary of the book/article. It should contain at the very least: a. The book’s or books’ main thesis/theses (or in other words, what is the author trying to convince us of?) b. The manner in which the author supports the thesis (or how the author uses evidence to support his/her arguments) c. Other issues that are raised as supplementary themes or sub-themes d. The significance of the book(s) to Southeast Asian studies and to comparative politics Your essays should examine the themes more in depth than the readings allow. They should be comparative in scope; that is, compare and contrast between two countries.
Study outside of Class (preparation and review)	Sometime students will be requested to study out of class and will be assigned to read class materials, to make a summary and possibly to make a presentation in class later.
References, etc.	Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origins and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1992). Benedict Anderson, The Spectre of Comparison: Nationalism, Southeast Asia and the World (London: Verso 1998). Vincent G. Boudreau, Resisting Dictatorship: Repression and Protest in Southeast Asia (London: Cambridge University Press, 2005). Mary P. Callahan, War and State-Building in Burma (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2005). Pavin Chachavalpongpun, A Plastic Nation: The Curse of Thainess in Thai-Burmese Relations (Lanham: University Press of American, 2005). Noorhaidi Hasan. Laskar Jihad: Islam, Militancy and the Quest for Identity in Post-New Order Indonesia (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, 2007). Paul D. Hutchcroft, Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1998). Andrew MacIntyre, The Power of Institutions: Political Architecture and Governance (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2002). Alfred W. McCoy, An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1993). Vicente Rafael, ed. Figures of Criminality in Indonesia, the Philippines and Colonial Vietnam (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, 1999). James C. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1977). James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998). James C. Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985).