Democratic Backsliding and the Politics of Future Governance: Lessons from Southeast Asia

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-549-2_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

democratic backsliding; future governance; Southeast Asia; authoritarian resilience; political legitimacy

Abstract

Over the past few decades, Southeast Asia has become a crucial region for understanding the processes of democratic decline and their consequences for the future of governance. Although several states in the region experienced democratic openings during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, these gains have proven fragile and often reversible. Democratic backsliding, commonly described as the gradual weakening of democratic rules and practices while formal institutions remain intact, has become increasingly evident across the region. Building on the theoretical contributions of Levitsky and Ziblatt (2020), Haggard and Kaufman (2021), and Guriev (2022), this article examines how the erosion of democracy in Southeast Asia undermines political accountability and reshapes the ways governments seek to legitimise their authority in the future. The discussion focuses on three illustrative cases: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. In Indonesia, the decline of democracy is reflected in the erosion of anti-corruption bodies, the rise of dynastic politics, and the instrumentalisation of major infrastructure projects as a source of political legitimacy. Malaysia highlights how high-profile corruption scandals and unstable governing coalitions complicate both democratic consolidation and effective governance. Thailand offers a more entrenched case, where repeated coups and constitutional manipulation have institutionalised authoritarian dominance. Taken together, these cases reveal a broader regional pattern in which governments preserve democratic façades while systematically constraining political competition and civic freedoms. The analysis further considers the role of external forces, including China, Western states, and international organisations, in shaping governance trajectories. Rather than relying on democratic deepening, legitimacy in many cases is increasingly tied to narratives of efficiency, modernisation, and stability. By placing democratic backsliding within the wider debates on future governance, the article argues that Southeast Asia demonstrates how hybrid regimes may become a defining feature of the twenty-first-century political order. Recognising these trajectories is essential for both scholars and practitioners concerned with safeguarding accountability in a region of growing geopolitical significance.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Honest Dody Molasy
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/09
TI  - Democratic Backsliding and the Politics of Future Governance: Lessons from Southeast Asia
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Multidisciplinary Issues (INCOMI 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 173
EP  - 185
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-549-2_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-549-2_14
ID  - Molasy2026
ER  -