Political Turbulence and Stalemate in Contemporary Malaysia: Oligarchic Reconstitutions and Insecurities

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-251
Author(s):  
Boo Teik Khoo
Keyword(s):  
Political Conflict ◽  
Leadership Transition ◽  
Leadership Succession ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
National Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Plural Society ◽  
Malaysian Politics ◽  
Hegemonic Stability ◽  
Ruling Party

AbstractMalaysian politics has been turbulent over the past two decades, as seen in the damaged tradition of leadership transition, non-violent revolts against successive regimes, and unstable realignments of opposing forces. Two startling symptoms point to disorder. One is the heavy electoral losses and loss of legitimacy suffered by the post-Mahathir regimes. The other is the political re-entry of Anwar Ibrahim and Mahathir Mohamad. The persisting turbulence raises certain questions. Why has the ruling party, the United Malays National Organization, been susceptible to internal fighting, being at once a source of hegemonic stability and systemic instability? Why has the apex of the United Malays National Organization repeatedly jeopardised its traditions of leadership succession? Why has one leader, Mahathir Mohamad, been involved in all the disputes? How did the crisis of the party, not just the regime, become intimately tied to economic crisis? Conventional paradigmatic explanations of Malaysian politics – inter-ethnic rivalry in a plural society, elite solidarity, and regime type (semi-democratic, hybrid, or competitive authoritarian) – are of little help even if ethnicity, elite conduct, and authoritarian rule are relevant. Instead, this essay suggests that the turbulence is part of a long trajectory of oligarchic reconstitution bound to a peculiar nexus of state, ethnicity, and class. The paper does not construct a theory of Malaysian politics. It offers a historically informed exploration of a leitmotif of an unfinished project that runs through much of the past 20 years of political conflict and struggle.

Electoral Manipulation and Regime Support

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora John Reuter ◽  
David Szakonyi
Keyword(s):  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Electoral Fraud ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
Ex Ante ◽  
Regime Support ◽  
Core Base ◽  
Ruling Party

ABSTRACT Does electoral fraud stabilize authoritarian rule or undermine it? The answer to this question rests in part on how voters evaluate regime candidates who engage in fraud. Using a survey experiment conducted after the 2016 elections in Russia, the authors find that voters withdraw their support from ruling party candidates who commit electoral fraud. This effect is especially large among strong supporters of the regime. Core regime supporters are more likely to have ex ante beliefs that elections are free and fair. Revealing that fraud has occurred significantly reduces their propensity to support the regime. The authors’ findings illustrate that fraud is costly for autocrats not just because it may ignite protest, but also because it can undermine the regime’s core base of electoral support. Because many of its strongest supporters expect free and fair elections, the regime has strong incentives to conceal or otherwise limit its use of electoral fraud.

An Association for Child Care in Hospitals

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-472
Author(s):  
T. BERRY BRAZELTON
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
American Association ◽  
Medical Center ◽  
Total Patient ◽  
National Organization ◽  
Children's Hospital ◽  
The Past ◽  
Children’S Hospital ◽  
Initial Meeting

In the past 2 years a new national organization, called the American Association for Child Care in Hospitals, has evolved. This organization was initiated by the six "play ladies" who are in charge of the children's hospital programs in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Two years ago, the Children's Hospital Medical Center (CHMC) in Boston was host to 50 participants from these institutions to found the organization. This initial meeting was abetted by the CHMC's concern for total patient care and was made possible by the backing of the administration and the pediatric and psychiatric departments.

In the Name ofAdat: Regional Perspectives on Reform, Tradition, and Democracy in Indonesia

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 815-852 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID HENLEY ◽  
JAMIE S. DAVIDSON
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
New Order ◽  
Political Imagination ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Marginal Population ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fourth Root ◽  
Reform Tradition

AbstractThis article examines the revival ofadat(custom) in post-Suharto Indonesia, a movement which few Indonesia-watchers predicted. Four general reasons for the rise ofadatrevivalism are identified. The first is the support, both ideological and concrete, of international organizations and networks committed to the rights of indigenous peoples. The second is the uncertainty, together with the opportunities, attendant on the processes of democratization and decentralization which followed the end of Suharto's authoritarian rule. The third is the oppression of marginal population groups under the New Order. The fourth root is historical, having to do with the positive role whichadathas played in the country's political imagination since the beginning of Indonesian nationalism.Adatas a political cause involves a set of loosely related ideals which, rightly or wrongly, are associated with the past: authenticity, community, order, and justice. These ideals have been invoked in varying proportions to pursue a wide variety of political ends, including the control of resources and the exclusion of rivals as well as the protection, empowerment, and mobilization of underprivileged groups.

What is NORML? Sedimented Meanings in Ambiguous Organizational Identities

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062110577
Author(s):  
Matthew C.B. Lyle ◽  
Ian J. Walsh ◽  
Diego M. Coraiola
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Identity ◽  
Identity Change ◽  
National Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organizational Identities ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Identity Threats ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Labels

Organizational identity scholarship has largely focused on the mutability of meanings ascribed to ambiguous identity labels. In contrast, we analyze a case study of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) to explore how leaders maintained a meaning ascribed to an ambiguous identity label amid successive identity threats. We found that heightened dissensus surrounding meanings attributed to the organization’s “reform group” label at three key points spurred theoretically similar manifestations of two processes. The first, meaning sedimentation, involved leaders invoking history to advocate for the importance of their preferred meaning while mulling the inclusion of others. The second, reconstructing the past, occurred as leaders and members alike offered narratives that obscured the history of disavowed meanings while sharing new memories of those they prioritized. Our work complements research on identity change by drawing attention to the processes by which meaning(s) underlying ambiguous identity labels might survive.

Judicializing Religion

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-188
Author(s):  
Yvonne Tew
Keyword(s):  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Malaysian Politics ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
Civil Courts

Religion has become one of the great fault lines of modern Malaysian politics and adjudication. This chapter focuses on the role of religion and religious freedom in the contemporary Malaysian state. It outlines the constitution-making process to locate the place of Islam and religious liberty within the Constitution’s generally secular original framework. Over the past quarter century, the politicization and judicialization of religion has led to an expansion of Islam’s role, fueling polarizing debate over the Malaysian state’s identity as secular or Islamic. Courts have contributed to elevating Islam’s position by deferring jurisdiction to the Sharia courts and expansively interpreting Islam’s constitutional position. The chapter then turns from the descriptive to the prescriptive. It discusses how courts can draw on the constitutional basic structure doctrine to entrench the judicial power of the civil courts to reclaim jurisdictional areas that engage constitutional rights which in the past they have ceded to the religious courts, such as apostasy. It also outlines how courts can use a purposive interpretive approach in line with the Constitution’s framework of protection for religious minorities and individual rights. Finally, it shows how the court can operationalize a proportionality analysis to closely scrutinize government regulations that restrict religious freedom or freedom of expression.

Commerce, Coalitions, and Factor Mobility: Evidence from Congressional Votes on Trade Legislation

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL J. HISCOX
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Capital Mobility ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Factor Mobility ◽  
Congressional Voting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Trade Politics ◽  
Over Time ◽  
American Trade ◽  
Trade Legislation

The extent to which political conflict over U.S. trade policy has led to clashes between broad-based class coalitions has varied significantly over time during the past two centuries. I argue that much of this variation can be explained by changes in economywide levels of interindustry factor mobility. Class distinctions between voters are more economically and politically salient when interindustry mobility is high; when mobility is low, industry distinctions become more critical and tend to split apart broader political coalitions. I report evidence indicating large changes in levels of labor and capital mobility over the last two centuries. These changes coincide with significant shifts in the character of American trade politics. Analysis of congressional voting on 30 major pieces of trade legislation between 1824 and 1994 provides evidence of large swings in coalition patterns.

U.S. Environmental Policy and Politics: From the 1960s to the 1990s

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael E. Kraft
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
First Century ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Past ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
The 1960S

Environmental policy and politics in the United States have changed dramatically over the past three decades. What began in the late 1960s as an heroic effort by an incipient environmental movement to conserve dwindling natural resources and prevent further deterioration of the air, water, and land has been transformed over more than three decades into an extraordinarily complex, diverse, and often controversial array of environmental policies. Those policies occupy a continuing position of high visibility on the political agenda at all levels of government, and environmental values are widely embraced by the American public. Yet throughout the 1990s environmental policies and programs were characterized as much by sharp political conflict as by the consensus over policy goals and means that reigned during the early to mid-1970s. As the twenty-first century approaches, there is considerable value in looking back at this exceptional period to under-stand the nature of the transformation and its implications for the future.

scholarly journals Is the Truth Down There?: Cultural Heritage Conflict and the Politics of Archaeological Authority

2006 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Barber
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Scientific Explanation ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Heritage Management ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
The Past ◽  
Culture History ◽  
History Approach ◽  
Applied Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

The selective pressures and processes of cultural heritage management effectively disinherit some interest groups. Where this occurs in the context of postcolonial or nationalist conflict, the material archaeological record may be referenced to support or reject particular views. The disciplinary assumptions behind the archaeological evidence so produced are not usually contested in judicial contexts. A review of archaeology’s theoretical foundations suggests that this naivety itself may be problematic. A descriptive culture history approach dominated archaeology over the first half of the twentieth century with a strong political appeal to nationalist politics. Subsequently archaeology became concerned with processual explanation and the scientific identification of universal laws of culture, consistent with postwar technological optimism and conformity. A postprocessual archaeology movement from the 1970s has promoted relativism and challenged the singular authority of scientific explanation. Archaeologists caught within this debate disagree over the use of the archaeological record in situations of political conflict. Furthermore, the use of archaeology in the sectarian debate over the Ayodhya birthplace of Rama suggests that the material record of the past can become highly politicized and seemingly irresolvable. Archaeological research is also subject to other blatant and subtle political pressures throughout the world, affecting the nature and interpretation of the record. A system that privileges archaeological information values may be irrelevant also to communities who value and manage their ancestral heritage for customary purposes. Collectively this review of theory and applied knowledge suggests that it is unrealistic to expect that archaeology can authoritatively resolve strident claims and debates about the past. Instead, an important contemporary contribution of archaeology may be its potential to document cultural and historical contradictions and inclusions for the consideration of contemporary groups in conflict.

The Changing of the Guard: Planning for Succession at Madison Children's Foundation (B)

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Liz Livingston Howard
Keyword(s):  
Board Members ◽  
Ceo Succession ◽  
Leadership Succession ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Succession Plan ◽  
The Past ◽  
Track Record ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Succession Process

In mid-2008, David Miller, the CEO of the Madison Children's Foundation (MCF), is beginning to contemplate the future of the organization. As the founding CEO, Miller has been the face of MCF since its inception in 1993. The foundation has a strong track record of success and has established a reputation as a “change maker” and “partner” in the community, having made grants of more than $60 million to local organizations. Although its grant-making has increased, MCF's staff has not grown over time. The board has changed composition over the past six years, adding more community residents and “working” board members. The board succession plan is fairly well organized, with a nominating committee and a good understanding of skill sets needed and the expectations for board members. However, there is no CEO succession plan. Board members have been raising the question in a non-confrontational manner for the past two or three years, and now Miller believes the time has come to create a CEO succession strategy for MCF. The critical questions raised by this case include: What roles do/should CEOs and boards play in initiating and implementing a leadership succession process? How does the implementation of a leadership succession process affect the senior staff at an organization? How should external stakeholders be engaged in the leadership succession process?To help leaders (paid and volunteer) to better understand the importance of leadership succession planning for their organizations; to provide an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of senior managers in the creation and implementation of a leadership succession process; and to discuss the importance of including internal and external stakeholders in the leadership succession process.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document