Introduction

The outbreaks of contentious politics discussed in Chapter 5 marked a violent end to the postwar era of political pluralism in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. New Southeast Asian authoritarian Leviathans were born at the height of the global “second reverse wave” of democratization, when electoral democracies – the only real dominoes of the Cold War era – were toppled throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Like so many postcolonial countries, the Philippines restored democratic politics during the “third wave” of democratization that followed, in 1986. Indonesia's authoritarian Leviathan held on longer, surviving the end of the Cold War and enduring until 1998. In Malaysia, the UMNO-led authoritarian Leviathan remains in power to this day.

Why did authoritarian rule prove more durable in Malaysia than in Indonesia, and in Indonesia than in the Philippines? This variation is best explained by variation in elite collective action, which is best explained in turn by the presence or absence of a protection pact: an elite coalition united by shared perceptions that a powerful authoritarian Leviathan represents a necessary bulwark against sociopolitical unrest. If elites have credible experiential grounds to associate authoritarianism with order and democracy with disorder, authoritarian rule can become so consolidated as to appear utterly permanent.