ABSTRACT
The hard one party states of Southeast Asia can be classied as ‘authoritarian’ by way of contrast with ‘dictatorial’ and ‘totalitarian’ states. There have been attempts at totalitarianism in previous Southeast Asian states, in particular in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, in Myanmar under the Burma Socialist Programme Party and then the State Law and Order Restoration Council, and, to a somewhat lesser degree, under the governments of Vietnam and Laos in the immediate post-1975 period. However, each of these states was operated by small committees (politburos) rather than by the direct rule of one person and hence, while totalitarian, could not be classied as dictatorial.
