Department of Political Science McGill University Winter 2011 Political Science 369 Politics of Southeast Asia Professor Erik

Martinez Kuhonta Leacock Building, Rm. 425 Tel: 514-398-7430 Email: erik.kuhonta@mcgill.ca Office Hours: Monday 3-5pm

Course Description: This course is an introduction to the politics of Southeast Asia. The structure of the course is thematic rather than country-specific. Nonetheless, within each theme, I will focus on particular countries, thereby integrating both analysis of broad themes and specific countries. Weeks 2-7 of the course provide a historical and contemporary overview of the region. Here we examine patterns of regime change and continuity, focusing especially on colonialism, nationalism, democracy, and authoritarianism. We will cover all the major countries in the region, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar/Burma, Vietnam, and Cambodia. These weeks should provide students with a broad grasp of the central political dynamics in Southeast Asia. After week 8, we will address the following issues: ethnic and religious politics, political economy, inequality, environmental politics, and international affairs. This course will enable students to: (1) gain an empirical and analytical understanding of the political dynamics of the region; and (2) think comparatively within the region and across the developing world more generally.

Course Requirements: 1. Lectures: The lectures will provide the analytical framework for the course. They will build on and supplement the readings. Attendance at all lectures is mandatory. 2. Readings: Students are expected to come to the lectures having done the readings beforehand. You will gain more from the lectures having already done the readings. 3. Conferences: There are 9 conferences in this course. Attendance at all of them is mandatory. For each conference, students are required to write a one-paragraph prcis on one of the readings assigned during the week. You can choose which reading to write about. During a week in which a film or documentary is shown you may also write about the film or documentary. In this assignment you should

answer the following question: What is the main argument of the article/book/book chapter/documentary? What did you like/dislike or agree/not agree with in this article/book/book chapter/documentary? Answer the question in one paragraph (6-8 sentences). To receive full marks for the conferences, you must hand in all 9 assignments. It is important that you are at the conference to be able to discuss your views; therefore you must hand in the assignment before the conference begins. No late assignments will be accepted once the conference is over. The point of this exercise is to ensure that you do the readings proactively and critically, to organize your thoughts in preparation for the exams, and to stimulate discussion during the conferences. 4. Map Quiz: This quiz will test students on the geography of Southeast Asia. The quiz is on Wednesday January 12. 5. Midterm Exam: This in-class midterm exam will be based on identifications and one essay. The exam is scheduled for Monday February 28. 6. Final Take-Home Exam: The exam will require students to answer one or two questions on issues discussed throughout the course. The exam is due on Thursday April 14 at 4:00pm in my office.

Grade Distribution: 1. 2. 3. 4. Attendance, prcis, and participation at conferences 10% Map Quiz 10% Midterm Exam 40% Final Take-Home Exam 40%

Statement on Academic Integrity: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism, and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information).

Policy on Missed In-Class Exam: If you are unable to take the in-class midterm exam due to illness, you must notify me in person or via email before the day of the exam and then provide me in person with an official medical note. I will reschedule one make-up exam for all students who missed the exam several days after the formal date. Anyone who misses the exam without notifying me the day before the exam and who does not provide an official medical note in person will not be allowed to write the makeup. Consequently, the grade on the midterm will be a 0, thereby affecting the final

cumulative grade. Missing a midterm exam will not be considered incomplete, but will be considered an F. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Policy on Final Take-Home Exam: The final take-home exam must be handed in by the stipulated deadline. Any late exams will be automatically downgraded by 15 points. Submissions via email are not allowed. If you are unable to hand in the final exam by the deadline, you must discuss this with me in person before the deadline. Illness must be justified through a medical note provided to me in person. Failure to hand in the exam by Tuesday April 19, which is 5 days after the deadline and without informing me of the lack of submission, will not be considered incomplete but will result in a O, thereby affecting the final cumulative grade.

Protocol in Class As a courtesy to myself and to your classmates, please do not use your laptop during class time for purposes other than taking notes. Surfing the internet or emailing during the course is a huge distraction that will affect your own concentration as well as the concentration of your classmates.

Contact during the Semester: The best way to get in touch with me is right after class or during office hours on Monday, 3:00-5:00pm. As a professional courtesy and because of the amount of email I receive, I strongly prefer that you discuss substantive or logistical issues with me in person rather than through email. In particular, any issue that requires significant discussion should be addressed in person. If there is an urgent matter that is time sensitive and you cannot reach me in person, I will respond to communication via email. The more concise your email is, the easier it is for me to respond. I do not check email on WebCT on a regular basis, so please email me only to my McGill account. I am happy to get to know students in the class, and I encourage you to make an effort to introduce yourself and discuss your interests about Southeast Asia with me, and to ask any questions related to the topics addressed in the course. Since this is a large lecture course, it is especially beneficial for you to let me know who you are. I am also open to any ideas about readings that you come across that are related to the course, or issues that you would like to discuss during conferences, or any matters that may help improve the course and engage its substance. I encourage course participants to use all the resources available in this course the instructor, the TA, classmates, reading materials, and WebCT to learn about Southeast Asia. If you are involved in organizing lectures, projects, or any relevant initiatives on Asia, Southeast Asia, or development, I am happy to hear about them, and happy to

circulate information about them. I especially encourage you to discuss with your classmates the issues addressed in this course, either through WebCT or in study groups. I also encourage you to come to class with any questions you have on the readings or the broader themes, and to pose the questions during class, after class, or during office hours. The bottom line: engage this course as intensively and extensively as your time permits.

Film Screenings: I will show several documentaries and films (in full or in part) during the course. The documentaries are intended to provide students with a broader perspective on the history, contemporary affairs, and personalities of the region. The following will be screened, in full or in part: January 14: The Year of Living Dangerously [part] on the 1965 Indonesian crisis February 9: The Killing Fields [part] on the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia March 2: Burma Diary on the state of Myanmar under the military regime March 16: Vietnam: A Rising Dragon on Vietnams economic growth March 30: The Mud on environmental destruction in Indonesia

Other Resources: The course will have a WebCT component. Students are encouraged to use WebCT to discuss issues in the course as well as contemporary events that are related to the course topics. I will attach websites and current news articles that may be of interest. To keep up with politics in the region, the following are good resources: The Financial Times, The New York Times, and The Economist. Three useful news websites on Southeast Asia are: www.atimes.com [Asia Times Online], www.channelnewsasia.com [web version of Singapore 24-hour broadcast news], and www.asiasentinel.com

Books and Coursepack to Purchase: Four books have been ordered at the McGill bookstore. A coursepack will also be available for purchase at the bookstore. All materials will be placed on reserve in the McGill Library. Some books may be cheaper online at www.amazon.ca Mark Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009, 2nd ed.) Norman Owen, et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia: A New History (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2005) Jonathan Rigg, Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernization and Development (London: Routledge, 2003, 2nd ed.) Robert H. Taylor, ed., The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996)

WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE REGION Wednesday, January 5: Introduction to Southeast Asia Friday, January 7: Introduction to Southeast Asia Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 1-15. Mark Beeson Introduction: Making Sense of Southeast Asia, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 1-11.

WEEK 2: COLONIALISM AND NATIONALISM [Note: the readings this week are heavy; by comparison, the readings next week are light. We have class on Friday, January 14; I have listed it as Week 3 because it begins a new topic.] Monday, January 10: Colonialism Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 75-81, 201-221, 243-251. John Furnivall, Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1948), 303-312. Robert Elson, Southeast Asia and the Colonial Experience, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 17-28. Wednesday, January 12: Nationalism *Map Quiz* Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 252-267, 283334, 350-360. Rupert Emerson, An Analysis of Nationalism in Southeast Asia, The Far Eastern Quarterly 5, 2 (February 1946): 208-215. Mark Berger, The End of Empire and the Cold War, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 29-45.

WEEK 3: DISORDER AND THE COLLAPSE OF POST-WAR DEMOCRACY Friday, January 14: Overview; Indonesia Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 431-447. Benedict R. Anderson, Old State, New Society: Indonesias New Order in Comparative Historical Perspective, Journal of Asian Studies 42, 3 (May 1983): 477-496. Film: The Year of Living Dangerously [part]

*Conferences begin the week of January 17: for the prcis due this week, you can write on any of the materials assigned in the first three weeks* Monday, January 17: Philippines, Thailand Benedict R. Anderson, Withdrawal Symptoms, in Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons (London: Verso, 1998 [1977]), 139-173 David Steinberg, The Philippines: A Singular and a Plural Place (Boulder: Westview Press 1994), 115-149. Wednesday, January 19: *NO CLASS*

WEEK 4: DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS Monday, January 24: Overview; Thailand; Philippines William Case, The Evolution of Democratic Politics, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 91-110. Benedict R. Anderson, Elections and Participation in Three Southeast Asian Countries, in Robert H. Taylor, ed., The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia (1996), 1233. Mark R. Thompson, Off the Endangered List: Philippine Democratization in Comparative Perspective, Comparative Politics 28, 2 (January 1996): 179-205. Film: Videoclip from YouTube on Philippine People Power Revolution Wednesday, January 26: Indonesia; East Timor Annette Clear, Politics: From Endurance to Evolution, in John Bresnan, Indonesia: The Great Transition (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005), 137-188.

WEEK 5: PERSISTENT AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES Monday, January 31: Overview; Malaysia; Singapore Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 414-430, 468491. Dan Slater, Iron Cage in an Iron Fist: Authoritarian Institutions and the Personalization of Power in Malaysia, Comparative Politics 36, 1 (October 2003): 81-101. Garry Rodan, Elections without Representation: The Singapore Experience under the PAP, in Robert H. Taylor, ed., The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia (1996), 61-89. Wednesday, February 2: Burma/Myanmar

Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 497-506. Mary P. Callahan, Burma: Soldiers as State Builders, in Muthiah Alagappa, ed., Coercion and Governance (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001), 413-429. Robert H. Taylor, Elections in Burma/Myanmar: For Whom and Why? in Robert H. Taylor, ed., The Politics of Elections in Southeast Asia (1996), 164-183.

WEEK 6: AUTHORITARIANISM IN INDOCHINA Monday, February 7: Vietnam Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 335-349. Gareth Porter, Vietnam: The Politics of Bureaucratic Socialism (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993), 64-100. Carlyle A. Thayer, Vietnam and the Challenge of Political Civil Society, Contemporary Southeast Asia 31, 1 (2009): 1-27. Wednesday, February 9: Cambodia Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 361-375. Joel Brinkley, Cambodias Curse: Struggling to Shed the Khmer Rouges Legacy, Foreign Affairs (March/April 2009). Film: The Killing Fields [part]

WEEK 7: HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE Monday, February 14: Universal Human Rights versus Asian Values Amartya Sen, Human Rights and Asian Values, The New Republic (14-21 July 1997). Donald K. Emmerson, Singapore and the Asian Values Debate, Journal of Democracy 6, 4 (1995): 95-105. Fareed Zakaria, Culture is Destiny: A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew, Foreign Affairs (March/April 1994). Norani Othman, Grounding Human Rights Arguments in Non-Western Culture: Sharia and the Citizenship Rights of Women in a Modern Islamic State, in Joanne R. Bauer and Daniel Bell, eds., The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 169-192. Wednesday, February 16: Human Rights and Justice James Rae, War Crimes Accountability: Justice and Reconciliation in Cambodia and East Timor? Global Change 15, 2 (2003): 157-178.

WEEK 8: MIDTERM EXAM *No conferences this week* Monday, February 28: In-Class Midterm Exam Wednesday, March 2: Film: Burma Diary

WEEK 9: ETHNICITY, RELIGION, AND VIOLENCE Monday, March 7: Overseas Chinese Benedict R. Anderson, Majorities and Minorities, in Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons (London: Verso, 1998 [1987]), 318-330. Leo Suryadinata, Chinese and Nation-Building in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Singapore Society of Asian Studies, 1997), 28-49. G. William Skinner, Change and Persistence in Chinese Culture Overseas: A Comparison of Thailand and Java, Journal of the South Seas Society 16 (1960): 86-100. Wednesday, March 9: Separatism and Violence David Brown, Ethnic and Nationalist Politics in Southeast Asia, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 143-156. Charles F. Keyes, Cultural Diversity and National Identity in Thailand, in Michael E. Brown and Sumit Ganguly, eds., Government Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and the Pacific (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997), 197-231. Michael Malley, Indonesia: The Erosion of State Capacity, in Robert I. Rotberg, ed., State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003), 183-213.

WEEK 10: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Monday, March 14: The NICs Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia Norman Owen et al., The Emergence of Modern Southeast Asia (2005), 379-398. Ruth McVey, The Materialization of the Southeast Asian Entrepreneur, in McVey, ed., Southeast Asian Capitalists (Ithaca: Southeast Asia Program, Cornell University, 1993), 7-33. Andrew MacIntyre, Business, Government and Development: Northeast and Southeast Asian Comparisons, in MacIntyre, ed., Business and Government in Industrialising Asia (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), 1-28. Wednesday, March 16: The Rest Philippines, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia

Jonathan Rigg, Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernization and Development (2003), 3-42. Film: Vietnam: A Rising Dragon

WEEK 11: DEVELOPMENTAL CRISIS Monday, March 21: Financial Crisis Joseph Stiglitz, What I Learned at the World Economic Crisis, The New Republic (17 April 2000). Benedict R. Anderson, Sauve Qui Peut, in Anderson, The Spectre of Comparisons (London: Verso, 1998), 299-317. Jeffrey Winters, The Determinants of Financial Crisis in Asia, in T.J. Pempel, ed., The Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1999), 79-97. Wednesday, March 23: Poverty and Inequality Jonathan Rigg, Southeast Asia: The Human Landscape of Modernization and Development (2003), 89-189.

WEEK 12: POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE ENVIRONMENT Monday, March 28: Environment Lorraine Elliott, Environmental Challenges, Policy Failure and Regional Dynamics in Southeast Asia, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 248-265. James David Fahn, A Land on Fire: The Environmental Consequences of the Southeast Asian Boom (Boulder: Westview Press, 2003), 81-141. Wednesday, March 30: Case Study of the Lapindo Mud Flow Disaster in Indonesia Heath McMichael, The Lapindo Mud Flow Disaster: Environmental, Infrastructure and Economic Impact, Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies 45, 1 (2009): 73-83. Film: The Mud

WEEK 13: ASEAN, SECURITY, AND DEMOCRATIZATION *No conferences this week; note that we have a lecture session on Friday because the university calendar has made the Friday schedule a Monday schedule* Monday, April 4: ASEAN

Alex Bellamy, Security in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 175-191. Amitav Acharya, The Quest for Identity: International Relations of Southeast Asia (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 2000), 78-104. . Wednesday, April 6: ASEAN Richard Stubbs, Meeting the Challenges of Region-Building in ASEAN, in Beeson, ed., Contemporary Southeast Asia (2009), 234-247. Friday, April 8: ASEAN and the Myanmar Conundrum Erik Martinez Kuhonta, Walking a Tightrope: Democracy versus Sovereignty in ASEANs Illiberal Peace, Pacific Review 19, 3 (September 2006): 337-358. Michael Green and Derek Mitchell, Asias Forgotten Crisis: A New Approach to Burma, Foreign Affairs 86, 6 (November/December 2007).

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