Bjoern Dressel

Australian National University | ANU · Crawford School of Public Policy

Authoritarian populism has been making a comeback in Asia, as illustrated in Southeast Asia's most important presidential regimes: the Philippines and Indonesia. In the Philippines, President Duterte (2016-2022) has shown unprecedented illiberal transgressions. Meanwhile in Indonesia, Joko Widodo's increasingly assertive presidency (2014-) has rene...

Courts around the globe have become central players in governance, those in Southeast Asia have been no exception. This Element analyses the historical foundations, patterns, and drivers of judicialization of politics by mapping critical junctures that have shaped the emergence of modern courts in the region and providing a basic typology of courts...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

The Philippine Supreme Court is considered one of Asia’s most activist courts. During the regime of President Rodrigo Duterte (2016–22), however, concerns grew about its independence. This article investigates determinants of the Court’s behavior since the country’s return to democracy in 1987, with particular attention to “loyalty effects”—the lik...

In the two presidential democracies covered in this volume—Indonesia and the Philippines—competitive elections take place, but the national legislature is weak vis-à-vis the President. And after elections, the President can cajole or coerce opposing lawmakers to join his ruling coalition such that the country has a unitary executive-led government,...

Over the past decade, healthcare systems in the Asia-Pacific region have made significant strides in their efforts to achieve universal health coverage. There are, however, many ongoing challenges in these systems that relate to access, financial protection, and strengthening public health. These challenges were brought into sharp relief by the SAR...

This article presents the first‐ever ranking of public policy schools in the Asia‐Pacific region based on their research publication output. We used Scopus as our bibliographic database to assess the publication output of 45 schools between 2014 and 2018, based on affiliations listed on the publications rather than current faculty. The results show...

Since its inception in 1957, Malaysia’s Federal Court (FC) has often been embroiled in high-profile decisions that have dramatically shaped the rule of law and constitutional practice in Malaysia. Recent political change has renewed hope that the FC can reassert its early role as an independent and impartial arbiter of political conflict. This pape...

How does severe financial crisis affect liberal democratic constitutions? For answers to this question I look to the experiences of states in East and Southeast Asia over the last quarter century (1990-2013). Drawing on cross-regional quantitative and in-depth qualitative analysis, this study finds only limited evidence of an impact of the Asian an...

The judiciary is one of Thailand’s most trusted governmental bodies. It is envisioned as the protector of civil rights and liberties and the guardian of the rule of law. But its involvement in several high-profile constitutional controversies over the last two decades has also prompted questions over its independence and judicial integrity. It is a...

Liberal democracy in the Philippines is under stress, and the midterm congressional elections on 13 May 2019 did little to temper fears of an imminent turn to illiberalism. Buoyed by the popularity of President Rodrigo Duterte, his allies have gained effective control of both houses of Congress as well as other major institutions. This article argu...

The Duterte administration is often considered a rupture in Philippines’ politics. Yet, how different is Duterte’s programme of change from the past governments, particularly from its predecessor, the Aquino II administration? Is there a shift in regime orientation and policy preferences from Aquino II to Duterte? What will this mean to the future...

The Constitutional Court of Indonesia is considered one of Asia's most activist courts. Here we investigate empirically possible determinants of the decisions of its judges over the period 2003-18. The findings are based on a unique data set of 80 high-profile political cases, complemented by data on the socio-biographic profiles of 26 judges who s...

Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia dianggap sebagai salah satu peradilan yang paling ‘aktivis’ (activist court) di Asia. Dalam penelitian ini kami menyelidiki secara empiris faktor-faktor penentu keputusan para hakim pada kurun waktu 2013-2018. Penemuan ini didasarkan atas rangkaian data 80 kasus-kasus politik yang terkemuka (high profile) , di...

To what extent do informal networks shape the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Philippines? Though often raised in the Philippines, this question has never been studied empirically. To answer it, we constructed a set of social network variables to assess how informal ties, based on university connections and work affiliations, may have influen...

This special issue proposes a relational approach to the study of judicial politics outside of Western democracies. The articles illuminate how common political interests, ideas, social identity, family and professional ties and even patron–client obligations between judges and other actors shape a variety of phenomena of interest to the study of j...

As judicial review has expanded in Asia during the last quarter century, new studies have emerged that seek to move beyond the traditional scholarly approach to the region to draw attention to judicial review from a more political perspective. Surveying this literature, this article addresses three central questions that have recently arisen: (1) W...

Cambridge Core - Constitutional and Administrative Law - Constitutional Courts in Asia - edited by Albert H. Y. Chen

Created in 1997 as part of a major constitutional reform, Thailand’s Constitutional Court has since become embroiled in several high-profile political controversies. Since the 2006 coup, because a number of such decisions have favoured one political camp and considering obvious close and long-standing relations between judges and political elites,...

This article introduces a special issue on the emergent relationship between the rhetoric and implementation of the rule of law concept in Southeast Asia. It thematically introduces four country case studies (Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam), and the case of ASEAN’s adoption of the rule of law in region-building, which are included in this...

Thailand has seen considerable progress in the rule of law since the seminal 1997 constitution. Yet persistent political instability suggests that as yet the country does not think of the rule of law as binding. What is likely to happen in Thailand with the rule of law, and with governance generally? The argument advanced here is that rule of law p...

This article proposes a relational approach to studying judicial politics in non-Western societies—a framework for the systematic analysis of informal relations between judges and other actors, within and outside the judiciary, based on common political interests, ideas, social identity, and even clientelistic obligations. We reflect on how these r...

Problems common to many Asian states suggest a pattern of crisis in Asia. The evidence suggests that the root cause is the similarity in the patterns of political development of postcolonial states. In Asia such states have attempted to reconcile state strength and internal diversity by constructing a triangular balance between identity constructio...

Over the last twenty-five years the constitutional landscape of Southeast Asia has changed tremendously. As in the rest of the world, states in the region are dramatically altering their constitutions, often putting in place institutional safeguards for individual rights, such as constitutional courts and human rights commissions. Yet despite the n...

Public administration in Asia has undergone considerable transformation over the last two decades, yet commitment to the rule of law has remained problematic. Presenting a basic typology of state types based on the breadth and depth of how public administration is situated within the rule of law, this article argues that while in recent years state...

It is widely argued that an empowered judiciary supports better governance by strengthening the rule of law and helping to make government more accountable and stable, but how solidly that reasoning is based in fact has not been carefully analysed. As recent events in Asia illustrate, apparently similar constitutional choices about courts can have...

It is widely argued that an empowered judiciary supports better governance by strengthening the rule of law and helping to make government more accountable and stable, but how solidly that reasoning is based in fact has not been carefully analysed. As recent events in Asia illustrate, apparently similar constitutional choices about courts can have...

This article analyzes the political dynamics underlying public financial management (PFM) reforms in the Philippines during the Benigno Aquino III administration (2010 present). By inviting widespread civil society participation throughout the budget cycle and by imposing greater transparency and accountability, they mark a substantial policy chang...

Courts and judges have become highly visible in the Asian political landscape as part of a global trend towards the judicialization of politics. Yet while there is increased understanding of what is driving this trend, current models do little to explain what courts and judges actually do; nor is there agreement on how judicial behavior might affec...

This article examines the judicialization of electoral politics in Asia, an important but understudied trend, as demonstrated in Thailand and Indonesia. Though the constitutional courts in both have similar histories and institutional arrangements, their electoral interventions vary radically. We argue that the diffusion or concentration of power a...

Democracy in the Philippines is a paradox. It was the first country in the region to topple authoritarian rule. Signs of a vibrant democracy are extensive: high voter turnout, civic engagement, institutional arrangements that theoretically promote accountability and safeguard rights and liberties. Yet the flaws in the democratic process are also ex...

In the comparative research we present here as the introduction to a set of case studies, we first assess the quality of democratic procedures, content and outcomes in eight countries in the Asia-Pacific region on the basis of quantitative and qualitative data. Second, we investigate whether, to what extent, and how democratic qualities relate to o...

Policy brief looks at the role that constitutional reform can play in governance reform.

Occasionally a new book profoundly challenges common assumptions and traditional narratives. Yoshinori Nishizaki’s timely and meticulously researched Political Authority and Provincial Identity in Thailand is one such book. Seeking to provide “a more balanced, complex, and nuanced picture of rural politics and state society relations in democratizi...

Courts are becoming major players in the political landscape of Southeast Asia. This paper seeks to examine the causes and consequences of this new trend with particular reference to Thailand. Our study primarily analyzes the behavior of the Thai Constitutional Court during the political crisis in 2006–2008; the findings suggest that recent judicia...

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Thailand once again suffered political instability. This article argues that the reason for this renewed instability is found in contesting notions of political legitimacy. At one end of the spectrum is the traditional conception of a stratified paternalauthoritarian state where power emanates from the...

The “People’s Constitution” drafted in 1997 was seen as a watershed event in Thai constitutional history due to the breadth and depth of its reforms. Yet just ten years later, in August 2007, a new Constitution was promulgated, the 18th since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. The latest version followed the ouster in September 2006...

Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan all have presidential systems, and in recent years have experienced many of the ills attributed to presidentialism by critics like Juan Linz, such as weak legitimacy, rigid terms, deadlock with the legislature, and efforts to impeach unpopular presidents. This article concludes that while Asian pr...

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