Politics and Society in Southeast Asia

The Cambridge Elements series, Southeast Asian Politics and Society, includes both country-specific and thematic studies on one of the world’s most dynamic regions.

Each title, written by a leading scholar of that country or theme, combines a succinct, comprehensive, up-to-date overview of debates in the scholarly literature with original analysis and a clear argument. Titles are suited for readers from across levels and disciplines, including scholars and policy-makers already knowledgeable about Southeast Asia, and students and general readers seeking to learn about it for the first time. Different combinations of titles will be an effective substitute for or complement to standard texts in undergraduate or graduate-level courses. But Southeast Asian Politics and Society volumes will also be valuable references for academic or policy research, highlighting contemporary debates about social and political change in the region, promoting new syntheses of knowledge, and advancing new interpretations.

Individual Elements contributions are at a length (20,000-30,000 words) that is longer than a journal article but shorter than a book. This length allows for more scope and depth than is available in the narrow confines available to scholars publishing in journals. Authors can also conceive and write an Element on a shorter timeline than is feasible for a scholarly book.

Areas of Interest

The series will publish works in areas including but not limited to:

It welcomes works that sit at the intersection of multiple areas.

About the Editors

Edward Aspinall is a professor of politics at the Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs, Australian National University. A specialist of Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, he has authored two books, Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia (2005) and Islam and Nation: Separatist Rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia (2009) and has co-edited a further ten, most recently Electoral Dynamics in Indonesia: Money Politics, Patronage and Clientelism at the Grassroots (2016). Much of his research has focused on democratisation, ethnic politics and civil society in Indonesia and, most recently, clientelism across Southeast Asia. A forthcoming book looks at vote buying and related practices in Indonesia.

Meredith L. Weiss is Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany, SUNY. She is the author of two books focused primarily on Malaysian politics, with two others in progress, and dozens of journal articles and book chapters, as well as editor of numerous volumes. Her research addresses political mobilization and contention, the politics of identity and development, and electoral politics in Southeast Asia. She is active in the American Political Science Association and Association for Asian Studies and has held visiting fellowships or professorships at universities in the US, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, and Australia.  

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