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Bound to Rule: Party Institutions and Regime Trajectories in Malaysia and the Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Abstract

This article revisits the electoral emphasis of hybrid regime studies, arguing instead that the impact of elections is structured by variations in prior political institutions, particularly the dismantlement or maintenance of a ruling party. Duration tests on 136 regimes indicate that ruling parties reduce the chance of regime collapse, while “electoral autocracy” has no significant effect. A paired comparison of Malaysia and the Philippines then shows how variations in party institutions propelled divergent courses of authoritarian dominance and democratization. During the late 1980s and 1990s, Malaysia's ruling party (UMNO) bound together otherwise fractious leaders, twice deflecting potent electoral challenges. By contrast, when Ferdinand Marcos abandoned the Nacionalista Party after 1972, he fueled the movement that would subsequently oust him. The efficacy of opposition parties Semangat '46 and United Nationalist Democratic Opposition (UNIDO) was thus heavily imbricated with the institutions of the regimes they challenged and less contingent on short-term electoral politics.

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Articles
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Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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References

Notes

I thank Dan Slater, Ben Smith, Patrick McDonald, Stephan Haggard, and two anonymous reviewers at the Journal of East Asian Studies for constructive suggestions. Responsibility for this work and any remaining errors rests with me.Google Scholar

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