Dictators, Democrats, and Development in Southeast Asia

Rock uses the high growth and transformation experiences of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, countries with conditions similar to other developing countries, to construct a serious strategic development alternative to prevailing conventional wisdom. Following difficult nation building processes, conservative political elites-dictators and democrats alike-became hegemonic, building center right political coalitions for development and self-preservation. The long run success of this capitalist, but not laissez faire, strategy is testimony to how weaker states, with high ethnic diversity and substantial corruption, can use states and markets to grow and transform their economies. -- Jomo Kwame Sundaram, Former United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Economic Development Rock's book tackles some of the biggest debates in the political economy of development and asks why both authoritarian and democratic governments in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand (IMT) have consistently outperformed their peers. The focus on IMT is welcome-with their comparatively more restive and diverse civil societies and weaker states they look much more like their counterparts in the rest of the world, than do Singapore and the developmental states of Northeast Asia. A hallmark of the book is the way in which the author lets the data speak for themselves while skillfully synthesizing disparate strands of argument and evidence. -- Allen Hicken, Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan Dictators, Democrats, and Development in Southeast Asia is a powerful account of the politics of sustained economic success in Southeast Asia. Michael Rock does a masterful job of distilling fifty years of Indonesian, Thai, and Malaysian history with sharp political and economic analysis and the pragmatic eye of someone who understands the myriad practical obstacles to deliberate developmental change. -- Andrew MacIntyre, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Global Development and Vice-President, RMIT University