Comparative Politics in Southeast Asia

Comparative Politics in Southeast Asia

Comparison is a fundamental tool of analysis. It sharpens our power of desсrіption, and plays a central role in concept-formation by bringing into focus suggestive similarities and contrasts among cases. Comparison is routinely used in testing hypotheses, and it can contribute to the inductive discovery of new hypotheses and to theory building…The forms of comparison employed in the discipline of political science vary widely…At the same time, the label ‘comparative method’ has a standard meaning within the discipline and in the social sciences more widely. Adapted from: Collier, D. (1993). The comparative method. In A. W. Finifter (Ed.), Political Science: The State of the Discipline II. American Political Science Association. Singapore, when compared to almost any other democratic country, has two deeply puzzling features. · Puzzle #1: It frequently adopts policies that economists would call “economically efficient, but politically unpopular”. For example, Singapore has near-unilateral free trade, admits large numbers of immigrants. These are policies that could easily have cost politicians their jobs in many other democracies; yet they have stood the test of time in Singapore.

· Puzzle #2: Even though Singapore follows the forms of British parliamentary democracy, it is effectively a one-party state. The People’s Action Party (PAP) has held uninterrupted power since the country gained Home Rule in 1959, and has always enjoyed an overwhelming majority in Singapore’s Parliament. The case of Singapore is a fascinating challenge to time-tested models of how democracy works. Adapted from: Caplan, B. (2009). Singapore’s political economy: Two paradoxes. Retrieved from https://www.csc.gov.sg/articles/singapore%27s-political-economy-two-paradoxes (a) Comparative Politics is an important sub-field of political science which uses the comparative method. Demonstrate your appreciation of the comparative method in political science and highlight its main advantages. Identify and discuss, with appropriate examples, two key limitations you may face in the study of comparative politics in Southeast Asia. (50 marks) (b) Compare and contrast at least three key features of Singapore’s political system with those of Indonesia and Vietnam. You should explain the concepts of political system and party system in your response, and also examine one significant distinct feature of the party system of each country. (50 marks)