Launch: The Palgrave Handbook of Political Norms in Southeast Asia
The Palgrave Handbook of Political Norms in Southeast Asia came out Open Access in June 2024. This event will bring together four of the contributing authors, as well as two of the editors.
The handbook aims to constitute a reference point on political norm dynamics in Southeast Asia, by bringing together the array of normative repertoires that frame the possibilities for citizens to participate in, set agendas for, make decisions in, and contest, not only electoral and institutional politics but also informal and imaginary political spaces. It sheds light on intersecting political and social transformations and their consequences from the vantage point of political norms. While chapters lay out and analyse how political norms across Southeast Asia have been shaped in successive historical phases, the core of the handbook addresses current dynamics involved in defining and transforming political norms.
After a general presentation by the two editors, the chapter authors will discuss diverse political norm dynamics at work in the region: political space across Southeast Asia, the punk/anarchist movement as well as anti-corruption activism in Indonesia, and Khmer Buddhism as a moderator of political power.
Intended for a wide audience of academics, policy makers, activists and citizens, the handbook has already enjoyed remarkable success with more than 50,000 downloads in the two months following its publication.
Program
Introduction: Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux and Astrid Norén-Nilsson
In the face of democratic decline across Southeast Asia, my chapter with Meredith Weiss explores how political space, encompassing both physical and discursive arenas, has simultaneously expanded through activism and protests while being constrained by intensified repression. We discuss how civil society actors navigate and contest the boundaries of this space, engaging in a struggle not only with the state but also with non-state actors aiming to limit democratic participation. By examining how political norms evolve through these interactions, we highlight how civil society continues to carve out new avenues for participation and empowerment despite authoritarian efforts to control and delimit political space.
Activisms that are informed by punk and anarchism are often marked by their ‘willingness to offend’. Anne R Kiss argues that this disruption of norms of deference is essential for resisting state repression in Indonesia today. Jim Donaghey will discuss Kiss’s analysis of the punk/anarchist transgressive approach to transforming social relations. Awas Polisi!
Daniel will recount key moments from his 2-hour interview with the late Faisal Basri, Indonesian senior economist, academic, and former politician, which he conducted in November 2021. The two discussed pivotal moments in Faisal’s decorated career, as well as the nuances of the Indonesia-China relationship. Faisal’s overall contention was that Indonesia’s increasingly strong relationship with China had, and would continue to, exacerbate corruption among Indonesia’s political and business elite, while also having a deleterious impact on Indonesia’s nascent democratic institutions.
Bios
Jim Donaghey
Eva Hansson
Elsa Lafaye de Micheaux
Astrid Norén-Nilsson
Daniel Peterson
Event info
Date: 4 October 2024, 13:15- 15:15
Venue: Asia Library, Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Sölvegatan 18 B, Lund
Contact for more information: astrid [dot] noren_nilsson [at] ace [dot] lu [dot] se (Astrid Norén-Nilsson)