Calls by political leaders, social activists, and international policy and aid actors for accountability reforms to improve governance have never been more widespread. For some analysts, the unprecedented scale of these pressures reflects the functional imperatives and power of liberal and democratic institutions accompanying greater global economic integration. This book offers a different perspective, investigating the crucial role of contrasting ideologies informing accountability movements and mediating reform directions in Southeast Asia. It argues that the most influential ideologies are not those promoting the political authority of democratic sovereign people or of liberalism's freely contracting individuals. Instead, in both post-authoritarian and authoritarian regimes, it is ideologies advancing the political authority of moral guardians interpreting or ordaining correct modes of behaviour for public officials. Elites exploit such ideologies to deflect and contain pressures for democratic and liberal reforms to governance institutions. The book's case studies include human rights, political decentralization, anticorruption, and social accountability reform movements in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. These studies highlight how effective propagation of moral ideologies is boosted by the presence of powerful organizations, notably religious bodies, political parties, and broadcast media. Meanwhile, civil society organizations of comparable clout advancing liberalism or democracy are lacking. The theoretical framework of the book has wide applicability. In other regions, with contrasting histories and political economies, the nature and extent of organizations and social actors shaping accountability politics will differ, but the importance of these factors to which ideologies prevail to shape reform directions will not. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

About the Author
Garry Rodan is Professor of Politics and International Studies at the Asia Research Centre, School of Management and Governance, Murdoch University, Australia. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. He is the author of Transparency and Authoritarian Rule in Southeast Asia (RoutledgeCurzon 2004) and The Political Economy of Singapore's Industrialization (Macmillan, 1989). His edited and co-edited books include Neoliberalism and Conflict in Asia After 9/11 (Routledge 2005), The Political Economy of Southeast Asia (OUP, 1997, 2001, 2006), Political Oppositions in Industrializing Asia (Routledge 1996), Singapore Changes Guard (Longman 1993) and Southeast Asia in the 1990s: Authoritarianism, Capitalism and Democracy (Allen & Unwin 1993). Caroline Hughes is Professor Conflict Resolution and Peace in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in the UK. She was previously Director of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University in Australia. Her research has focused upon the political economy of regime change and post-conflict statebuilding, in Cambodia and East Timor in particular. She is the author of Dependent Communities: Aid and Politics in Cambodia and East Timor (Cornell SEAP, 2009) and The Political Economy of Cambodia's Transition 1991-2001 (Routledge, 2003).

Reviews
Rodan and Hughes book shows the importance of bringing politics back into the accountability debate in Southeast Asia...theirs is an argument that should be taken seriously by academics, civil society organizations and development agencies alike when assessing accountability reforms across the region. * Michael Buhler, SOAS, University of London, ASEASUK News *
The Politics of Accountability is extremely impressive in its scope, depth and sophistication. The empirical chapters are extraordinarily rich, making extensive and compelling use of interview data gathered during the years of fieldwork. The framework significantly advances the "Murdoch school" of political analysis by foregrounding ideology, which has hitherto been relatively neglected. The overall argument is compelling, making a seminal contribution to our understanding of how institutional reforms can entrenth rather than undermine existing regimes ... The Politics of Accountability is of interest not merely to students of Southeast Asian politics, but also to those studying and to those interested in the specific kinds of institutions that the book covers. * Lee Jones, Queen Mary, University of London, Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. *
this book constitutes a significant contribution and provides intellectual and empirical rigour in arguing that accountability reforms are a key political issue that enables us to understand the limits of democratisation in this region of the world. * Juanita Elias, Journal of Contemporary Asia *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198703532
Author Garry Rodan
Format Hardback
Page Count 246
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 536g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 162mm * 21mm