Abstract
This chapter explains the rise of populist politics and why it takes different forms in Southeast Asia – specifically in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. We see populism as an integral part of larger conflicts over power and wealth that accompany the advance of global capitalism. The failure of governments and elites to deal with structural crises confronting their societies provides the circumstances in which populism can emerge. Populist movements are shaped by different forces and interests operating within cross-class alliances in particular contexts. This explains why populism can sometimes be a vehicle for long-supressed popular demands for the redistribution of wealth and social justice and, elsewhere, effectively protect the interests of established oligarchies by diverting such demands into a politics of identity and culture.
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In the late 1970s, the Janata Party briefly ruled India with the support of such organisations as the militantly Hindu Nationalist RSS, which also serves as a major base of power for the Modi government.
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Robison, R., Hadiz, V.R. (2020). Populism in Southeast Asia: A Vehicle for Reform or a Tool for Despots?. In: Carroll, T., Hameiri, S., Jones, L. (eds) The Political Economy of Southeast Asia. Studies in the Political Economy of Public Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28255-4_6
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