Electoral authoritarianism in Malaysia: trajectory shift

Case, William

doi:10.1080/09512740903068362

Cited by 19 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…While Mexico practices a different type of politics than Malaysia, there are some parallels especially with regards to the authoritarian nature of the state and the concentration of power in the executive branch of the federal government. As many scholars have noted (Gomez & Jomo, 1997;Case, 2009), Malaysia's political system post-independence had exhibited features that were reflective of an authoritarian state. This included an increasing degradation to the checks and balances between the three branches of government through a series of amendments to Malaysia's constitution over the years that had greatly enhanced the Prime Minister's executive powers.…”

Section: The Democratization Of Local Government In Mexico: Dealing Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratizing Local Government: What Malaysia Can Learn From Mexico and India

Murugasu

2020

JIS

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The Pakatan Harapan 2018 election manifesto, had as one of its commitments, to strengthen the authority of local government and to make local councils more accountable. Many took this to mean that local government elections would resume, after an absence of more than 60 years. While Pakatan Harapan’s tenure as Malaysia’s ruling government was short-lived, their rise to power did put local government back in the spotlight, as well as raise the prospect of the resumption of local government elections in the country. There are a number of reasons why a more democratic and participatory approach to local government is to be hoped for in Malaysia. These include the view that it discourages public malfeasance and produces local officials that are more responsive to the needs of the citizens they serve. There are however challenges that come with introducing a more democratic form of local government, especially for countries which are attempting to transition from authoritarianism to a democracy at the national level and which have a diverse multi-ethnic population of differing socio-economic backgrounds. In order to better understand what these challenges are and how they can be overcome, I examine two case studies, that of Mexico and India, which have some similarities to Malaysia in terms of regime-type and demographics. I consider the evolving approach taken by these two countries towards local government, in terms of their structure and practices, with a view to gleaning potential lessons for Malaysia. This paper begins with a brief historical overview of the system of local government in Malaysia up to the present day. This is then followed by a discussion of Mexico and India’s own uneven experience with democratizing their local governments. What these case studies reveal is the manner in which countries with an authoritarian past often undergo a transitional period, in which even as structures of local governance become more democratic, local officials and citizens remain trapped in old authoritarian modes of behavior. And that unless interventionist steps are taken, democratizing local government structures alone, does not necessarily lead to greater citizen empowerment, especially for those from the more marginalized sections of society.

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Section: The Democratization Of Local Government In Mexico: Dealing Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratizing Local Government: What Malaysia Can Learn From Mexico and India

Murugasu

2020

JIS

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“…As a society that has lived under the rule of soft authoritarianism (sometimes known as a semi-democracy), Malaysian elections over the past few decades have been regularly marred by corrupt practices including gerrymandering, vote-buying, and bribery (Case, 2009;Means, 1996). In response, the Bersih movement emerged as a grassroots effort to mobilize the broader public against political corruption and the need for electoral reform (Khoo, 2014).…”

Section: The Malaysian Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

How mainstream and alternative media shape public attitudes toward social change: Evidence from two panel studies during Malaysia’s democratic transition

Selvanathan

Lickel

2020

New Media & Society

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Mainstream and alternative media often frame key political events in divergent ways. The present research examined how mainstream and alternative media consumption was linked to public support for Bersih, a pro-democracy movement in Malaysia. We conducted a two-wave panel study before and after the Bersih 5 protests demanding electoral reform ( N = 422), and another two-wave panel study before and after the 14th General Elections which were historic in unseating the ruling government ( N = 386). Against mounting corruption, the two events were important to Malaysia’s democratic transition. Across both studies, alternative media consumption was linked to more positive attitudes toward the Bersih movement, especially among people who were strong supporters of the previous ruling government. Mainstream media did not play a consistent role in shaping attitudes toward the movement, nor was there evidence of backlash among government supporters. Thus, alternative media may have legitimized the cause for social change.

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Section: The Democratization Of Local Government In Mexico: Dealing W...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Democratizing Local Government: What Malaysia Can Learn From Mexico and India

Murugasu

2020

Journal of International Studies

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The Pakatan Harapan 2018 election manifesto had established commitments to strengthen the authority of local government, and to make local councils more accountable. This suggested that the local government elections would resume, after an absence of more than 60 years. While the Pakatan Harapanâ€™s tenure as Malaysiaâ€™s ruling government was short-lived, their rise to power did put the local government back into the spotlight, as well as elevated the prospects of the resumption of local government elections in the country. There are a number of reasons that supports a more democratic and participatory approach to local government which has been highly hoped for in Malaysia. These include the view that it discourages public malfeasance and produces local officials that are more responsive to the needs of the citizens they serve. However, there are challenges that follow with the introduction of a more democratic form of local government, especially for countries that are attempting to transition from authoritarianism to a democracy at the national level, and contain a diverse multi-ethnic population of differing socio-economic backgrounds. In order to better understand what these challenges are and how they can be overcome, this study examines two case studies, Mexico and India. These two countries have shown some similarities to Malaysia, particularly with regards to regime-type and demographics. This study considers the evolving approach taken by these two countries on their local government, in terms of their structure and practices. It is proposed that the case studies could provide potential lessons for Malaysia. This study begins with a brief historical overview of the system of local government in Malaysia to present day. This is followed by a discussion of the uneven experiences of Mexico and India on the efforts to democratize their local governments. The findings from the examination of both the case studies reveal the manner for which the countries with an authoritarian past often undergo during a transitional period, whereby although the structures of local governance have become more democratic, local officials and citizens are remain trapped in the old authoritarian modes of behavior. Unless interventionist steps are taken, democratizing local government structures alone do not necessarily lead to greater citizen empowerment, especially for those from the more marginalized sections of society.

show abstract

Electoral authoritarianism in Malaysia: trajectory shift

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Democratizing Local Government: What Malaysia Can Learn From Mexico and India

Democratizing Local Government: What Malaysia Can Learn From Mexico and India

How mainstream and alternative media shape public attitudes toward social change: Evidence from two panel studies during Malaysia’s democratic transition

Democratizing Local Government: What Malaysia Can Learn From Mexico and India

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