ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses the political role of the military in regime transitions in Southeast Asia. There is an important literature on military intervention and military rule in individual countries as well as on the origins of dictatorship and democracy in the region. However, the current state of research lacks in attention to issues of civil–military relations in democratic transformations. This lacuna is striking since the military is potentially one of the most consequential institutional actors in authoritarian transition and democratization, and the success or failure of these processes hinges to a large extent on its political behavior.