Factionalism in Southeast Asia: Types, Causes, and Effects. Issue 1 (April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hicken, Allen; Tan, Netina
• Other Names: Chambers Paul guest-editor.; Ufen Andreas guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of current Southeast Asian affairs. Volume 39:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 187
• Page End: 204
• Publication Date: 2020-04
• Subjects: Southeast Asia -- political parties -- factions -- factionalism -- elections; Southeast Asia -- Periodicals; Southeast Asia -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Southeast Asia -- Foreign relations -- Periodicals; 320.959
• DOI: 10.1177/1868103420925928
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1868-1034

Abstract

In this article we present an overview of the arguments contained in the articles of this special issue. We first catalogue the varieties or types of factionalism present across Southeast Asia—namely, programmatic, clientelistic, and personalist/charismatic. We then explore the question of why the degree and type of factionalism varies across countries, across time, and across parties. We first focus on differences between factionalism in governing and opposition parties, arguing that factionalism across dominant and opposition parties differs in terms of the origin, type, and effect. We find that the more competitive the party system the more likely it is that factional patterns between the parties within a given polity will converge. We then review the relative power of socio-structural and institutional explanations of factionalism, and place the greatest weight on the role of patronage, party size, and the degree of party centralization. Finally, we turn our attention to common strategies for curbing factionalism across our cases and conclude by examining the consequences of factionalism.