Claudia Derichs

Gendering moral capital: Morality as a political asset and strategy of top female politicians in Asia

Abstract In contrast to social capital, moral capital remains an under-researched topic in political science. In Asia, however, moral capital is one of the core assets of women politicians on their way to power. Kane defines moral capital as a specific political value of virtue that inclines others, in particular the political public and followers, to bestow (ethical) prestige, respect, loyalty, and authority on a political actor or the representative of an institution that the actor herself/himself can use as a resource to mobilize for political goals, activities, or support. This article addresses two questions. First, in which circumstances does moral capital become a significant asset for women on the rise to the top echelons of political power in Asia? Second, how do women politicians use moral capital as a political strategy, campaign instrument, and/or asset of public imaging? The authors discuss four case studies of female opposition politicians — Burmas Aung San Suu Kyi, Malaysias Wan Azizah, South Koreas Park Geun-hye, and Japans Tanaka Makiko — in three types of political systems: democratic, semi-authoritarian, and authoritarian. All four women are descendants of political dynasties and each of them used moral capital to reach top political offices in their countries. But significant differences emerge regarding the importance of moral capital as a prime asset in the development of each of their political careers. These differences originate from (a) the power configurations in the political context in which each woman operates, and (b) the legacies of their fathers or husbands.

A Step Forward: Malaysian Ideas for Political Change

Malaysian ideas for political change have been articulated by diverse societal groups and communities. The emerging civil society in Southeast Asia is reflected in Malaysia through the power struggles of old and new political parties and movements. Within this setting, the coalition of Islamic and non-Islamic parties is one of the most striking phenomena that can be observed. The paper addresses the question of theoretical parameters that can be applied to analyse the critical juncture at which Malaysia and other Southeast Asian nation-states have arrived at the turn of the century (1999 to 2001). The approach used in the paper is to analyse the interplay of domestic and international influence factors in order to explain the current political discourse in Malaysia.

Asian Crisis and Political Change: Discourses on Political Reform in East and Southeast Asia

Beyond the economic dimension of the crisis in East and Southeast Asia in the late 1990s there is also a political dimension which has generated a discourse on questions of political reform, change and democratisation. The repercussions of the economic crisis have contributed to a fresh political discourse, which pushed forward new and sometimes unexpected suggestions for change. In this article, state and society are not regarded as spheres separated from each other but, rather, as interconnected spheres. This interconnection is also the vantage point for an analysis of the intellectual discourses within a given society, which are seen as markers of change in the political setting. Case studies of four countries of the region - China, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam - reveal developments that can be typified in two ways. First, there is an emphasis on the extent to which local experiences of political culture can contribute to democratisation processes as well as on the way in which destabilising factors in democratisation processes can be absorbed by introducing local instruments of political participation. Secondly, whilst there are clear parallels in this respect between all the countries in the region, forms of transnational exchange and discourse are growing. International influence and pressure stemming from globalisation have at the same time tangibly improved discourse opportunities in authoritarian states in the region.

Form follows function? Popular Islamic Discourse in Malaysia

In the following paragraphs, I intend to address the topic of public and/or popular Islamic discourse in Malaysia, thereby stressing the point that it is not really appropriate to speak of the Islamic discourse. This is so because there is neither a shared understanding of every issue that is publicly discussed among Malaysian Muslims, nor is it possible to deny the fact that the discourse on Islam in Malaysia consists of statements and opinions from very different actor groups, hence reflects the plurality of Muslim life in this country.

Monarchies and Republics, State and Regime, Durability and Fragility in View of the Arab Spring

Abstract In trying to ascertain the different trajectories followed by monarchies and republics since the “Arab Spring” in 2011, analysts and academics concur that a gap has opened, despite continuing debates as to whether analysing this imbalance between types of polity can help in understanding and explaining these diverse trajectories. Examining the Gulf monarchies produces the following arguments: (1) the monarchy versus republic issue is important for analysing Middle East politics in light of the Arab Spring and (2) the state as a frame of reference is important for understanding the nature of political change. Here, our analytical approach to the durability of the Gulf monarchies incorporates the concept of social order and the impact of pre-state patterns. Both “state” and “regime” are needed in the analytical framework, since, in this specific case, they are different categories, yet two sides of the same coin. Thus, state legitimacy equals regime legitimacy.

Japan: Politisches System und politischer Wandel

Dieser Teil des Buches beschaftigt sich mit dem Wandel wie auch mit den Kontinuitaten in der Politik des modernen Japan. Das moderne Japan beginnt mit dem Jahr 1868. Zwischen 1868 und 1945 wurden wesentliche Fundamente fur die heutige Politik – polity-, policy- und politics-Ebene – gelegt. Kontinuitatslinien treten deutlich zutage. Auf diese und auf die Veranderungen durch forcierte Demokratisierung gehen wir ein, wenn sich unser Augenmerk auf die Entwicklung nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg richtet. Neben den institutionellen Gegebenheiten werden die formellen und informellen Verfahrensweisen in der Politik betrachtet. Zunachst werden die Institutionen Regierung und Parlament auf der nationalen und regionalen (lokalen) Ebene dargestellt. Ihre Zusammensetzung, Funktionsweise und strukturellen Merkmale werden unter dem Aspekt des Wandels diskutiert. Unter dem Stichwort der Partizipation werden das Verhalten von Interessenverbanden und das politische Engagement zivilgesellschaftlicher Gruppen analysiert. Letzteres ist insbesondere nach der sog. Dreifachkatastrophe vom 11. Marz 2011 – Erdbeben, Flutwelle, Reaktor-Gau – in den Fokus der Beobachtung geruckt. Die abschliesende Perspektive erfolgt vor der Annahme, dass ein tiefgreifender politischer und wirtschaftlicher Wandel erst dann Fruchte tragen kann, wenn grundlegende strukturelle Veranderungen vorgenommen und in der politischen Praxis realisiert werden.

Multiculturalism and its institutional manifestations in Malaysia

Institutions in comparative polities can be seen as a variable in the theoretical setting of system comparison. They serve the purpose of structuring the analytical framework, but their impact on the unfolding of certain types of political systems should not be overestimated. Accordingly, comparative politics and its extension to comparative policy analysis in particular, tends to emphasize political processes and procedures instead of focusing exclusively on institutions (von Beyme 1992). In the present paper, I will try to shed a light on institutions and policies, and relate them to the issue of multiculturalism/multiethnicity.1 Apart from the constitution, I will not deal with ‘classical’ examples of political institutions like the bureaucracy, parliament, or political parties. The ethnic and hence cultural element is all too obvious in these institutions, because Malaysian politics in these institutions has always been determined and performed along ethnic communal lines. To get an idea of what the institutional consolidation of multiculturalism can mean beyond the realm of the ‘classical’ political institutions in a multiracial and multiethnic state like Malaysia, I will turn to the policy arena and look at functions of output as well as at outcomes of political decisionmaking.

Rethinking the Monarchy–Republic Gap in the Middle East

In the wake of the ongoing Arab Spring, one of the many themes that garnered attention by scholars and policy analysts is the empirical fact that, of the autocratic regimes that have been overthrown, all have been republican regimes. Meanwhile, Middle Eastern monarchs have staved off sometimes massive protests with generally minor economic concessions and limited political reforms. Recent events seem to be running counter to previous social scientific understandings and concepts that saw Arab monarchies as more easily allowing for political liberalization than their republican neighbors. The observation that the institutional “rules of the game” shape political outcomes should be unsurprising in the comparative study of politics. Yet it is nevertheless important to examine what those differences are between monarchies and republics— and differences within these categories — that have resulted in their different trajectories in light of events in the Middle East since 2011. Is there still a king’s dilemma or is it now presidents who face the more serious legitimacy crises today? Or do the factors that promote instability in the Middle East transcend particular institutional arrangements? In order to investigate these questions, an international group of scholars met at the University of Marburg, Germany, in September 2012 and explored answers to these issues in a workshop entitled Rethinking the Monarchy–Republic Gap in the Middle East. A selection of the papers presented at the workshop— especially those that deal with the Arabian Peninsula— are included in the special section of this issue. They deal with three themes that arose out of the workshop’s discussions. First, does the perceived gap between republics and monarchies extend beyond noting that there were regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen and not in other states? André Bank, Thomas Richter, and Anna Sunik explore this theme in “Durable, Yet Different: Monarchies in the Arab Spring”, which builds on their earlier research in exploring the trajectories of the survival and breakdown of monarchical regimes across the region since 1945. In this article, they find that the three types of monarchies in the Arab world –– dynastic (exemplified in their article by Qatar), linchpin (exemplified by Jordan), and the hybrid “linchtier” monarchy

Die politischen Systeme Ostasiens im Vergleich

Die vorangehenden Landerstudien haben die politischen Systeme der VR China, Japans, Nord- und Sudkoreas, Hongkongs und Taiwans unter dem Aspekt des Wandels betrachtet und versucht, verschiedene Formen von Partizipation in diesen Systemen darzulegen. In einigen Landern hat sich ein starker politischer (und gesellschaftlicher) Wandel vollzogen, in anderen (Nordkorea) ein kaum erkennbarer, schwacher Wandel, der nur mit Muhe als Veranderungsprozess begreifbar wird — zumal die Daten fur eingehende Untersuchungen fehlen. Alle Landerstudien belegen, dass Wandel nicht in einem ausschlieslichen Sinne einer Veranderung in Richtung einer zunehmenden politischen Liberalisierung und Demokratisierung nach westlichem Verstandnis aufzufassen ist, sondern vielfaltige Gestalt annehmen kann. Fur die Volksrepublik China trifft beispielsweise der Begriff der Pluralisierung und Partizipationsausweitung eher zu als der Begriff der Demokratisierung. Japan hat in der Nachkriegszeit Phasen eines roll back erlebt, in denen demokratische Errungenschaften wie eine starke lokale Selbstverwaltung schrittweise zuruckgenommen wurden und mehr oder minder neu erkampft werden mussten. Taiwan hat sich (wie Sudkorea) von einer Entwicklungsdiktatur zu einem demokratischen Verfassungsstaat gewandelt, wahrend die politischen Verhaltnisse in Hongkong vom Spannungsverhaltnis Peking-Hongkong gepragt werden. Gilt Sudkorea heute als stabile Demokratie, wenngleich mit „Defekten“, so sind die Anzeichen von Veranderungen in Nordkorea noch eher schwach ausgepragt. Eine Transition wurde dort zur Preisgabe zentraler Elemente des Herrschaftssystems und der Chuch’e-Ideologie fuhren; die Bereitschaft, dies zu billigen und vorzunehmen, ist beim derzeitigen Regime nicht erkennbar. Vielmehr zeichnet sich eine inkrementale Veranderung ab, die den strukturellen und ideologischen Rahmen nicht beschadigen soll. Gleichwohl geht diese inkrementale Veranderung wesentlich langsamer vonstatten als der Wandel in China, dessen kontinuierlicher Reformprozess seit den spaten 1970er Jahren auch haufig als incremental change beschrieben wird.

Grundlagen der Komparatistik

Die Komparatistik, hier verstanden als vergleichende Politikwissenschaft, stellt ein zentrales Fachgebiet der Disziplin dar. Sie hat seit jeher verschiedene Weltregionen in den Blick genommen und Fragen nach der Veranderung, der inneren Ausgestaltung, der Persistenz oder auch der Qualitat von politischen Systemen und Verfahren gestellt. Um dies in solider Weise tun zu konnen, bedarf sie der regionalwissenschaftlichen Expertise, oder, wie es heute meist heist, der Expertise aus den area studies. So konnen etwa Vergleiche von Partizipationsformen, den Beziehungen zwischen Staat und Gesellschaft oder der Legitimitat eines politischen Regimes, die Ostasien in den Fokus nehmen, nur dann substanzielle Ergebnisse zutage fordern, wenn der Untersuchung ein Minimum an kulturellen, sprachlichen und historischen Kenntnissen zugrunde liegt. Dies gilt auch in methodischer Hinsicht, fur quantitativ ebenso wie fur qualitativ oder triangular/methodisch gemischt ausgerichtete Studien. Diese Beziehung zwischen der Disziplin der Politikwissenschaft und den area studies ist mittlerweile weitgehend akzeptiert – vor allem, wenn es um sog. small-n-Studien, d. h. Untersuchungen mit relativ wenigen Vergleichsfallen geht.