Regional authoritarianism

New Mandala hasn’t published anything much that has been of interest for us at PPT for some time. Its most recent post, however, has a useful discussion of the deepening authoritatianism of the ASEAN region and the ways in which authoritarian leaders support each other. The post, “Making Mainland Southeast Asia safe for autocracy,” is by Gregory Raymond of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU in Canberra.

Of course, the rise of authoritarianism is not just seen in the ASEAN region, but seems a global pattern. Even so, considering the relationships between the leaders on security and in dealing with dissidents is well worth thinking about.

Raymond refers to

an authoritarian security community, a group of contiguous states that collude in transnational repression and illicit cross-border business, and share authoritarian governance techniques and mutually legitimise their authoritarian rule.

He adds:

… it is within mainland Southeast Asia that transnational authoritarianism has been most conspicuous, paralleling democracy’s more precipitous decline. Ample evidence suggests the later-joining Mekong members of ASEAN—Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam—have extended ASEAN’s illiberal practices to a new level of subregional collusion, linking up with founding member Thailand in the process.

Paetongtarn Shinawatra welcoming Myanmar’s dictator. Clipped from the Malay Mail