ABSTRACT
This chapter explores varieties of authoritarian regimes in Southeast Asia, focusing on those in Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines in recent years. It examines forms and content of authoritarianism in these countries in the context of their political history in recent decades and differentiates the ways that such regimes have maintained order through a variety of extra-legal means. While in some countries, such as Thailand, the military has played a key role in imposing authoritarian rule, in others, such as Cambodia and the Philippines, despotic regimes under personalist dictatorships, such as by Hun Den in Cambodia and by Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, have essentially imposed fascist rule that violates basic human rights, democratic governance, and the rule of law. The chapter concludes by comparing these oppressive regimes with that of other fascist regimes in Europe in an earlier period and stresses the need to combat this potent force that undermines democratic governance across the Southeast Asian region.
