Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia

Politicians in Southeast Asia, as in many other regions, win elections by distributing cash, goods, jobs, projects, and other benefits to supporters, but the ways in which they do this vary tremendously, both across and within countries. Mobilizing for Elections presents a new framework for analyzing variation in patronage democracies, focusing on distinct forms of patronage and different networks through which it is distributed. The book draws on an extensive, multi-country, multi-year research effort involving interactions with hundreds of politicians and vote brokers, as well as surveys of voters and political campaigners across the region. Chapters explore how local machines in the Philippines, ad hoc election teams in Indonesia, and political parties in Malaysia pursue distinctive clusters of strategies of patronage distribution – what the authors term electoral mobilization regimes. In doing so, the book shows how and why patronage politics varies, and how it works on the ground.

• Offers a new framework for understanding how and why patronage politics differs in types of resources and modes of distribution
• Draws on a multi-year research effort involving hundreds of research collaborators across Southeast Asia
• Examines both cross-national and subnational variations in electoral mobilization strategies in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines

About the Author

Edward Aspinall is Professor of Political Science and Social Change at the Australian National University. He is the author of Opposing Suharto: Compromise, Resistance and Regime Change in Indonesia (2005), Islam and Nation: Separatist Rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia (2009) and Democracy for Sale: Elections, Clientelism and the State in Indonesia (2019, with Ward Berenschot).

Meredith L. Weiss is Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany, SUNY. She is the author of Protest and Possibilities: Civil Society and Coalitions for Political Change in Malaysia (2006), Student Activism in Malaysia: Crucible, Mirror, Sideshow (2011), and The Roots of Resilience: Party Machines and Grassroots Politics in Southeast Asia (2020).

Allen Hicken is Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of Building Party Systems in Developing Democracies (2009), Politics of Modern Southeast Asia (2010), Party and Party System Institutionalization in Asia (2014), and Electoral Dynamics in the Philippines (2019).

Paul D. Hutchcroft is Professor of Political Science and Social Change at the Australian National University. He is the author of Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines (1998) and editor of Mindanao: The Long Journey to Peace and Prosperity (2016) and Strong Patronage, Weak Parties: The Case for Electoral System Redesign in the Philippines (2019).