South-East Asian democracy is declining
Recent events in Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand help explain why
Almost everyone agrees that democracy is declining in the 11 countries of South-East Asia. But why? The region’s diversity makes generalisations hard. It is about the size of Latin America, with 690m people, and has a gallimaufry of political structures, ranging from the autocratic sultanate of Brunei to Leninist Vietnam and impressively democratic (but tiny) Timor-Leste. Yet in three important countries in the region, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, democracy is struggling, and some baleful common themes emerge.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Asian democracy is declining”
From the September 2nd 2023 edition
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