DLDG - Week 6: DISMANTLING DEMOCRATIC CHANGE IN ASIA: MODALITIES AND WEAPONS OF CHOICE

The global phenomenon of democratic decay and constitutional retrogression has garnered intense scrutiny, particularly over the past decade. This presentation demonstrates that such patterns have also emerged in the Asian postcolonial experience as countries seek to democratize over the last twenty-five years. Drawing on an array of illustrations from various jurisdictions across South Asia and Southeast Asia, I explore how political actors have assaulted democratic constitutional commitments following political change, even despite – in some cases – making pledges to uphold constitutional democracy.

In doing so, I show that the process of dismantling of democratic change is gradual and multi-dimensional, and that it reflects three main imperatives – consolidation (of political authority), dissolution (of institutional accountability), and suppression (of political competition). While this is congruent with the patterns of democratic erosion in the global north, I suggest that the Asian experience brings to light the diversity of actors and tools involved in assaults against democratic commitments. I will show that formal constitutional amendments have not been a pervasive “weapon of choice” in carrying out such assaults; rather, anti-democrats seem to favor the use of ordinary legislation and informal mechanisms of constitutional change. Ultimately, this presentation hope to drive home the point that the conventional focus on formal rules and institutions is inadequate to understand, detect, and stifle the dismantling of Asia’s democratic change.