Southeast Asia political Systems Development: Democracy or Democratization Politics

The concept of democracy and the process of democratization are always difficult to define and operationalize. One way to deal with this challenge is to define democracy in liberal terms and assess democratization as a liberal process. This study argue that there is a difference between democracy and democratization in terms and processing.  In addition, I argue that Southeast Asia is a region where uneven political development presents a theoretical challenge to the study of regime change and continuity in the academic field of comparative politics. Only Timor-Leste, the Philippines, and Indonesia can now considered liberally democratic.  However, these democracies far from merged. The other eight regimes range from soft dictatorships to electoral authoritarian regimes and illiberal democracies. This study seeks to explain why no single theory adequately explains regime change and continuity in this region. Obstacles to democratization are many, one of which is the fact that traditional and undemocratic institutions remain strong and that transitions to civilian rule remain vulnerable to other powerful state institutions, most notably the armed forces.

Keywords: South East Asia, Dictatorship; Electoral Authoritarianism, Democracy, Democratization, Liberal Democracy.