Civil Society in Southeast Asia: Cases of Singapore and Malaysia

After a century of inattention, the present-day discussion of civil society was invigorated in the struggles against authoritarian socialist states in Eastern Europe and, to a minor degree, military dictatorships in Latin America (Pelcynski 1988; Tismaneanu, 1992). Indeed, the 20th century has witnessed a significant decline of authoritarian states and expansion of democratically elected governments. In 1900, the states with restricted democratic practices were 25 in number and accounted for just 12.4 percent of the world population. In 2000, liberal and electoral democracies visibly prevail, representing 120 of the 192 existing countries and 62.5 percent of the global population (Lipset et al, 2000). Given the bourgeoning prevalence of democracies in the world today, it is of paramount significance to understand what make them emerge.