Theorising Politics in Southeast Asia

Following the developments in the region, how is politics theorised in Southeast Asian countries? The papers for this panel should reflect on the autocratisation and/or democratic backsliding in the region on the one hand and the changing (local or domestic) political landscape on the other. Do these changes require revisiting how politics is understood in the different countries in Southeast Asia? Is there a potential theoretical explanation for the movement away from the widely accepted democratic framework in the region (at least for those considered democratic)? Or, put in another way, can Southeast Asian politics today be understood better outside the Western political framework?