Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia, Edward Aspinall, Meredith L. Weiss, Allen Hicken and Paul D. Hutchcroft

Abstract

How and why does distributive politics differ across and within countries? This book aims to provide a comparative framework of distributive politics focusing mainly on three Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It seeks to capture the distinct patterns of electoral mobilization regimes, i.e., the way in which patronage is distributed through networks. Instead of restricting the scope to a specific aspect, such as clientelism or pork barrel, the study focuses on patronage broadly defined as ‘a material resource distributed for particularistic benefits for political purposes’, ranging from the micro- (individuals or households), meso- (geographic, associational, or sectoral groups), to macro-level (national or regional) resources to be tailored for particularistic benefits. Despite the wholistic perspective, the strength of this study lies in a decade-long, extensive collaborative research involving more than 200 researchers, which enabled the authors to dive into the microcosm of distributive politics. They conducted numerous interviews with diverse actors as well as a series of surveys of not only electorates (Malaysia in 2013 and 2016, the Philippines in 2013 and 2019, and Indonesia in 2014) but also brokers (in the Philippines and Indonesia).