Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia.

• Author: Phan, Hao Duy
• Position: Book review

Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia. Edited by Marco Biinte and Bjorn Dressel. Abingdon, Oxon.: Routledge, 2016. Hardcover: 360pp.

The past three decades have witnessed major constitutional changes in Southeast Asian countries, most notably in the Philippines (1987), Laos (1991, 2003, 2015), Thailand (1991, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2016), Vietnam (1992, 2001, 2013), Cambodia (1993), Indonesia (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002), Timor-Leste (2002) and Myanmar (2008). These changes have, of course, significantly impacted the legal and political landscapes of these states, even those with authoritarian and hybrid regimes. These constitutional changes also reflected the growth and complexity of the competition and contestation for constitutionalism in Southeast Asia; a process in which different political actors bargain, confront, clash and settle on constitutional ideas and principles.

Against that background, Marco Biinte and Bjorn Dressel's edited book Politics and Constitutions in Southeast Asia offers timely insights and makes a significant contribution to the field of comparative constitutional politics. As the editors point out at the beginning, the book takes a distinctly political approach to examining the constitutional debates and contestation in Southeast Asia. It therefore complements well other bodies of research on similar topics which adopt legal, sociological or socio-legal perspectives by marshalling an impressive array of empirical evidence and providing incredible contextual richness curated from the diversity of Southeast Asia.

In terms of structure, the volume is neatly divided into four parts to cover the most visible areas of constitutional contestation: first, constitution-drafting processes; second, the role of the military in national politics; third, human rights discourse, institutions and practices; and fourth, judicial systems and the rule of law. The editors should be commended for having brought together a group of contributors that have extensive country expertise. Aurel Croissant offers an analysis of constitution-making across Southeast Asia. Michael H. Nelson looks into the drafting dynamics of the Thai constitutions. Rui Graga Feijo investigates the often ignored case of constitutional politics in Timor-Leste. Paul Chambers examines the role of the security forces in the domestic politics of Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar. Renaud Egreteau focuses on how the military has infused its constitutional vision into...