Populist and Authoritarian Leadership of Prayuth-Chan-ocha and Rodrigo Duterte
Keywords:
Populism, authoritarianism, Southeast Asia, Philippines, ThailandAbstract
Academics and the media have raised concerns over the recent rise of populism and authoritarianism globally. Southeast Asia is no exception to this trend. This paper examines the populist and authoritarian leadership styles of Prayuth Chan-ocha of Thailand and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines using a comparative method and literature review. The study reveals that the populist and authoritarian styles of the two leaders have a number of similarities and also important differences. It also finds a different pattern of populism and authoritarianism between the two leaders. While Prayuth can be considered an authoritarian aspiring to be a populist, Duterte is more a populist who has become an authoritarian. The paper further examines the global phenomena distinguishing the case of Prayuth from other populist leaders following an authoritarian pattern.
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Opportunity for Democracy. https://anfrel.org/wpcontent/uploads/2019/06/Thai-Report-final. pdf Bangkokbiznews. (2014). Green Populism at Glance: Comparing 1958 to 2014 [in Thai]. https://www. bangkokbiznews.com/news/detail/587133 Boonyamanee, S. (2018). Populism Casts Shadow over Thai Politics. Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1596822/populism-casts-shadow-over-thai-politics Brysk, A. (2020). Global Dynamics of Authoritarian Populism. https://www.21global.ucsb.edu/ global-e/february-2020/global-dynamics-authoritarian-populism Flatt, N. (2018). Arbitrary Power and the Weakening of the Rule of Law in Duterte’s War on Drugs. Sociology of Law Department, Lund University, Sweden. Gavilan, J. (2018). Quality of PH Democracy 'Adversely Affected' under Duterte – Report. Rappler.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/194966-democracy-index-2017-philippines-martial-lawmindanao-affect-quality Heydarian, R. J. (2017). The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt against Elite Democracy. https://fsi-live. s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fspublic/book_talk_the_rise_of_duterte_standford.pdf Human Right Watch. (2017). Thailand: Drop Charges for Critical Facebook Posts. https://www.hrw.org/ news/2017/08/10/thailand-drop-charges-critical-facebook-posts Human Rights Watch. (2018). Philippines: Duterte’s ‘Drug War’ Claims 12,000+ Lives Government Harassment, Threats against Rights Defenders. https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/01/18/ philippines-dutertes-drug-war-claims-12000-lives iLaw. (2018). Section 44 Orders Reaches 200, Inclusive Implementation and Arbitrariness [in Thai].
https://ilaw.or.th/node/5041 iLaw. (2018). The 2019 Elections, of the NCPO, by the NCPO, and for the NCPO. https://ilaw.or.th/ node/5004 Juego, B. (2017). Demystifying Duterte’s Populism in the Philippines. https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/ handle/123456789/53195/demystifying%20dutertes%20populism%20in%20the%20 philippines%20%20iaps%20dialogue.pdf?sequence=1 Kenny, P. D. (2019). Populism in Southeast Asia. London: Cambridge University Press
Kongkirati, P. (2017) Age of Silence (Second) of Thailand [in Thai]. The 101. https://www.the101.world/ sound-of-silence/ Kurlantzick, J. (2018) Southeast Asia’s Populism Is Different but Also Dangerous. https://www.cfr.org/ article/southeast-asias-populism-different-also-dangerous Levitsky, S. (2017, November 3-4). Populism and Competitive Authoritarianism. Memo prepared for the Global Populisms as a Threat to Democracy Conference, Stanford University. McCargo, D. (2016). Duterte’s Mediated Populism. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 38(2). McCoy, A.W. (2017). Philippine Populism: Local Violence and Global Context in the Rise of a Filipino Strongman. Surveillance & Society, 15(3/4). Mendoza, R.U. (2018). Unmasking Duterte’s Populism: Populist Rhetoric versus Policies in the
Philippines. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Mietzner, M. (2015). Reinventing Asian Populism: Jokowi's Rise, Democracy, and Political Contestation in Indonesia. Policy Studies, no. 72 Hawaii: East - West Center. Morelock, J. (2018). Introduction. In Morelock, J. (Ed.). Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism. University of Westminster Press: London. Nilsen, A.G. (2018). Authoritarian Populism and Popular Struggles in Modi's India. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/authoritarian-populism-and-popular-struggles-in-modi-s-india/ Norris, P. (2016). It’s Not Just Trump. Authoritarian Populism Is Rising Across the West. Here’s Why. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/11/ its-not-just-trump-authoritarian-populism-is-rising-across-the-west-heres-why/?utm_term=. dd789276f851 Ogden, C. (2019). The Authoritarian - Populist Wave, Assertive China and a Post-Brexit World Order. FPC Briefing. https://fpc.org.uk/fpc-briefing-the-authoritarian-populist-wave-assertive-chinaand-a-post-brexit-world-order/ Onvara, V. (2019). Democracy Towards Authoritarianism under Illiberal Populist Leaders in Hungary and Poland. Central and Eastern European Review, 13. Panarina, D.S. (2017). Rodrigo Duterte - Who is he?. Vestnik RUDN International Relation, 17(3). Pasuk, P. & Baker, C. (2011) Populist Challenge to the Establishment: Thaksin Shinawatra and the Transformation of Thai politics. In Robinson R (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics. New York: Routledge. Pongsudhirak, T. (2014) Thai Authoritarianism: Past and Present. Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost. com/opinion/opinion/428117 Power, T. P. (2018) Jokowi’s Authoritarian Turn and Indonesia’s Democratic Decline. Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, 54(3).
Rohac, D., Kennedy, L., & Singh, V. (2018). Drivers of Authoritarian Populism in the United States. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/democracy/reports/2018/05/10/450552/driversauthoritarian-populism-united-states/ Thai Lawyers for Human Rights. (2019). Five Years under NCPO, Isn’t That Enough? Recommendations to Eliminate the Effects of the Coup. https://www.tlhr2014.com/?p=13035&lang=en Bangkok Post. (2017, April 27). Press Freedom Drops 6 Notches to 142nd.https://www.bangkokpost.com/ thailand/general/1239603/thailands-press-freedom-drops-6-notches-to-142nd Thompson, M. R. (2016). Bloodied Democracy: Duterte and the Death of Liberal Reformism in the Philippines. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 3, pp.39–68. Valiquette, R. T. & Su, Y. (2018). The Rise of Duterte and Bolsonaro: Creeping Authoritarianism and Criminal Populism. New Mandala. https://www.newmandala.org/the-rise-of-duterte-andbolsonaro-creeping-authoritarianism-and-criminal-populism/ Wolf, M. (2019). The Rise of the Populist Authoritarians. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/ content/4faf6c4e-1d84-11e9-b2f7-97e4dbd3580d
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Published
2020-06-29
How to Cite
Neelapaichit , K. (2020). Populist and Authoritarian Leadership of Prayuth-Chan-ocha and Rodrigo Duterte. Thai Journal of East Asian Studies, 24(1), 75–87. Retrieved from https://so02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/easttu/article/view/243239
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