Patrick Ziegenhain

President University | PU · Department of International Relations

In this paper, we analyze the political system of Egypt under President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi between 2016 and 2024. The article aims to reveal whether there are still some democratic elements or if the country has rather a classical authoritarian system. To answer this question, we used relevant democracy criteria as analytical tools. Methodologica...

The destruction of the natural environment is a serious problem in Indonesia. Areas with rain forests have been reduced dramatically by the creation of palm oil plantations, rivers contaminated by mining activities, and the air pollution in the cities is among the highest worldwide. Environmental civil society organizations, but also the national m...

This article deals with the political and social achievements, but also the shortcomings of Mahathir Mohamad as the long-term prime minister of Malaysia. Based on a thorough and critical literature review the authors discuss first Mahathir’s reaction to the financial crisis in 1997/98 and the upcoming reformasi movement. Then, they analyze the cond...

This article deals analyzes the reactions of the Indonesian government and civil society in the first month after Russia’s military attack on Ukraine. President Joko Widodo and his administration condemned the invasion since it constituted a break of the international law. The government, however, avoided to explicitly mentioning Russia as aggresso...

Indonesia-Japan relations are expected to develop well in the near future, without major changes and a strong focus on the economy. Japanese-Indonesian relations will change to some extent, since Indonesia is increasingly developing and the gap between the two countries becomes smaller. Indonesia-Japan relations will most likely become closer in te...

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world to varying degrees. Moreover, different regions of the world have tried to combat the disease in a variety of ways. Since the beginning of the pandemic in Wuhan, China, the world has been looking in particular at South and Southeast Asia, where great successes were initially achieved in 2020. In 2021, ho...

In this chapter, I will first give a concise description of the major demographic trends in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, then give a condensed explanation of these population developments, before drawing some tentative conclusions about the demographic implications for all the three countries in a comparative perspective. I will specifi...

This chapter pinpoints that the Indonesian president would approach the party and faction leaders and lobby for the government’s proposals and if they can agree on a deal, the rank-and-file members of the parliamentary factions will follow the decisions of the party/faction leadership. Indonesian presidents tend to form oversized government coaliti...

This chapter aims to provide an up-to-date comparative overview of the constitutional status and the political role of Islam in the ASEAN member states and then draw conclusions about general patterns from a comparative perspective. The situation in the countries with an Islamic majority is to be contrasted with that in the countries with an Islami...

One of the major targets of the ASEAN Economic Community is to achieve a higher influx of foreign direct investments (FDI) into the region. By analyzing recent economic developments and weighing opportunities and challenges, this paper argues from a liberal-institutionalist perspective that there are good chances for a higher level of FDI in ASEAN...

Indonesia, one of the largest and most diverse countries in the world, exposes a remarkable degree of social cohesion. The reasons for this are manifold, but common historical experiences, a relatively effective nation-building process, favourable indigenous traditions, and the successful promotion of a common language created an overarching feelin...

European and Malaysian Approaches to Regionalism, in: Azirah Hashim and Anthony Milner (eds.): Malaysian Perspectives on ASEAN Regionalism, Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 2019, pp. 131-148 (together with Gerhard Leitner) https://aei.um.edu.my/malaysian-perspectives-on-asean-regionalism

The Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations recognize the importance of making progress in the eradication and treatment of sexually transmitted deceases (STD). STD are among the most widespread diseases in the world and have the highest prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa. The current study explored the associations between the alloca...

Indonesia and Malaysia will soon experience the consequences of an ageing population. Both countries, however, are not yet prepared well for this major demographic change and have only adopted few policies with regard to an ageing society. This article explains the features of and the reasons for the demographic changes in Indonesia and Malaysia be...

Mainstream economic arguments posit that liberalization is the route latecomer economies should pursue to achieve income convergence between countries. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) offers a useful platform to test if trade liberalization has been accompanied by income convergence since the grouping have been among the most agg...

The increasing tensions between Islamists and the political leadership in Malaysia and Indonesia reveal that the relationship between religion and state has not yet been finally settled in both states. The ongoing socio-political struggles on the relationship between Islam and national identity in both countries is also a result of the very differe...

Political accountability is a crucial element of any democracy since it is a safeguard against power abuse and corruption, both urgent problems of many political systems in Southeast Asia. Based on social science theories, the author analyses from a comparative perspective the ways institutional engineering concerning different dimensions of politi...

This paper argues that the enormous support of civil-society organizations was a major reason for Joko Widodo's victory in the Indonesian presidential elections in 2014. Social-science theories generally assign civil-society organizations a leading role in strengthening a democratic political order and improving the quality of democracy in it. The...

In den letzten Jahren hat sich Indonesien mit einem bemerkenswerten ökonomischen Aufschwung vom Entwicklungs- zum Schwellenland gewandelt. Die Ursachen dieses Wirtschaftswunders sind vielfältig. Der Autor belegt, dass die nach dem Zusammenbruch des autoritären Regimes im Jahr 1998 eingeleiteten Demokratisierungsund Dezentralisierungsprozesse die Ha...

How did the reform of the electoral systems in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines influence the character of the respective political systems? How did the latter change in regard to the continuum between a pure majoritarian and a consensus democracy according to Lijphart’s approach? And, in a broader perspective, did the electoral reforms con...

Democratization in Indonesia has altered the political decision-making processes in many ways. It has also brought about tremendous change to the role of the Indonesian parliament in the country's political system. Once characterized as a powerless rubber stamp, the parliament has developed into a comprehensive and more representative body able to...

Indonesia under the rule of President Suharto was a completely different political system than the current one. This refers to the now existing political freedoms, the free and fair character of elections, the decentralisation process as well as the declining number of human rights violations. However, there are still some remnants of the old polit...

This study of the national parliaments of India, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand is inspired by four major theoretical discourses: neo-institutionalism, parliamentarianism versus presidentialism, majoritarian versus consensus democracy, and transition theory. The book examines the specific role of parliaments in political deci...

Incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) was re-elected as Indonesian president in the elections on 8 July 2009 with over 60 per cent of the votes. The reasons for the victory were his relatively successful economic policies, his efforts in the fight against corruption, and the poor quality of his political opponents. The retired general...