State Institutions, Civic Associations, and Identity Demands

Series

• Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies

While the media tends to pay the most attention to violent secessionist movements or peaceful independence movements, it is just as important to understand why there are regions where political movements for autonomy fail to develop. In neglecting regions without political movements or full-blown independence demands, theories may be partial at best and incorrect at worst.

State Institutions, Civic Associations, and Identity Demands examines over a dozen regions, comparing and contrasting successful cases to abandoned, unsuccessful, or dormant cases. The cases range from successful secession (East Timor, Singapore) and ongoing secessionist movements (Southern Philippines), to internally divided regional movements (Kachin State), low-level regionalist stirrings (Lanna, Taiwan), and local but not regional mobilization of identity (Bali, Minahasan), all the way to failed movements (Bataks, South Maluku) and regions that remain politically inert (East and North Malaysia, Northeast Thailand). While each chapter is written by a country expert, the contributions rely on a range of methods, from comparative historical analysis, to ethnography, field interviews, and data from public opinion surveys. Together, they contribute important new knowledge on little-known cases that nevertheless illuminate the history of regions and ethnic groups in Southeast Asia. Although focused on Southeast Asia, the book identifies two factors that can explain why movements emerge and successfully develop and concludes with a chapter by Henry Hale that illustrates how this can be applied globally.

Amy H. Liu is Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.
Joel Sawat Selway is Associate Professor of Political Science at Brigham Young University.

Praise / Awards

• “State Institutions, Civic Associations, and Identity Demands is a fine contribution: through looking at detailed ethnographic case studies of different ethnic minority groups in Southeast Asia, this volume explores why some groups opt for secessionism and some do not.”
  —Roger D. Long, Eastern Michigan University
• “Terrific, interesting case studies on ethnic groups that are seldom discussed or studied. The breadth of cases is useful for looking at the relationship between political institutions and organizational aspects within different communities.”
  —Amy L. Freedman, Pace University