Building Nations, to c.1990

Abstract

The ending of colonial empires brought to Southeast Asia the challenges of independence. The new states had to establish viable political frameworks to replace the structures imposed by colonial rule. Several opted — at least on the surface — for Western-style democracy, some more completely than others, rather than seeking inspiration from their own pre-colonial and authoritarian pasts. The Philippines, Indonesia, and South Vietnam took on forms of parliamentary democracy based on a presidential form of government. Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand adopted constitutional monarchy with a prime minister. In several of these cases, however, power was really exercised in quite a different manner: in the Thai case there were only short attempts at real democracy during the decades after 1932. Laos and Cambodia maintained parliamentary systems with periodic elections, but their political stages were largely dominated by the elite. Brunei remained an absolute monarchy with the Sultan playing the role of Prime Minister in a ministerial structure after 1984. Burma and Singapore chose to have a prime minister as head of government with a president as formal head of state. Only North Vietnam began its existence as a Communist state. The other states’ adoption of a form of Western-style democracy — the system that had actually been represented in their lives mainly by colonial oppression — requires some explanation.