Power Networks of Political Families in Southeast Asia: The Enduring Dynastic Influence in Democratic Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21512/jas.v12i2.12013Keywords:
bibliometrix, dynasty, family, power, Southeast AsiaAbstract
This research systematically analyzed the dynamics of political dynasties in Southeast Asia by uncovering their prevalence, influence, and evolution over the 2009 to 2024 period. Using bibliometric mapping and content analysis, it explored 74 documents across 47 sources, including journals, books, and conference papers, obtained from the Scopus database. The primary objective was to identify thematic trends, blind spots, and the implications of these findings for understanding political stability, governance, and democratic processes in the region. The results highlighted a remarkable concentration of research in Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia, where entrenched political dynasties shape governance and democratic processes. These countries dominate the literature, reflecting their unique political landscapes and the pervasive influence of familial power structures. In contrast, the lack of research on other Southeast Asian nations such as Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Timor Leste, and Vietnam highlights a critical gap that leaves the dynamics of political dynasties in these less-studied contexts. The geographic imbalance underscores the need for broader investigations to develop a more inclusive understanding of Southeast Asian political dynasties.
References
Abinales, P. N. (2011). The Philippines in 2010: Blood, ballots, and beyond. Asian Survey, 51(1), 163–172. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2011.51.1.163
Adilansyah, A., Firmansyah, F., Kamaluddin, K., Sauki, M., & Hidayat, R. (2024). The evolution and current state of research on pork-barrel politics (1970–2024). Thammasat Review, 27(2), 351–405. https://doi.org/10.14456/tureview.2024.28
Amundsen, I. (2016). Democratic dynasties? Internal party democracy in Bangladesh. Party Politics, 22(1), 49–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068813511378
Aria, M., & Cuccurullo, C. (2017). Bibliometrix: An R-tool for comprehensive science mapping analysis. Journal of Informetrics, 11(4), 959–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2017.08.007
Aspinall, E., & Berenschot, W. (2019). Democracy for sale: Elections, clientelism, and the state in Indonesia. Cornell University Press.
Azizah, N., Nkwede, J. O., & Armoyu, M. (2021). The octopus-like power of Pesantren dynasty in the dynamics of local politics. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2021.1962056
Barr, M. D. (2016). The Lees of Singapore: A quality brand. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 341–354. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659727
Bennett, C. (2023). Cambodia 2022-2023: Securing dynastic autocracy. Asia Maior, 34, 217–234.
Buendia, R. G. (2021). Examining Philippine political development over three decades after `democratic’ rule: Is change yet to come? Asian Journal of Political Science, 29(2), 169–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/02185377.2021.1916970
Bulaong, O., Mendoza, G. A. S., & Mendoza, R. U. U. (2024). Cronyism, oligarchy and governance in the Philippines: 1970s vs. 2020s. Public Integrity, 26(2), 174–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/10999922.2022.2139656
Chandra, K (Ed.). (2016). Democratic dynasties: State, party, and family in contemporary Indian politics. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316402221
Dal-Bó, E., Dal Bó, P., & Snyder, J. (2009). Political dynasties. The Review of Economic Studies, 76(1), 115–142. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-937X.2008.00519.x
David, C. C., & Legara, E. F. T. (2017). How voters combine candidates on the ballot: The case of the Philippine senatorial elections. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 29(1), 70–94. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edv041
Davis, D. B., Mendoza, R. U., & Yap, J. K. (2024). Corruption risk and political dynasties: Exploring the links using public procurement data in the Philippines. Economics of Governance, 25, 81–109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10101-023-00306-4
Dulay, D., & Go, L. (2022). When running for office runs in the family: Horizontal dynasties, policy, and development in the Philippines. Comparative Political Studies, 55(4), 588–627. https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140211024292
Fauzanafi, M. Z. (2016). Searching for digital citizenship: Fighting corruption in Banten, Indonesia. Advances in Southeast Asian Studies, 9(2), 289–294. https://doi.org/10.14764/10.ASEAS-2016.2-7
Firmansyah, F., & Hidayat, R. (2024). Bibliometric and critical review of the empirical research on political deception. Thammasat Review, 27(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.14456/tureview.2024.1
Garces, L., Jandoc, K., & Lu, M. G. (2021). Political dynasties and economic development: Evidence using nighttime light in the Philippines. Philippine Political Science Journal, 41(3), 215–261. https://doi.org/10.1163/2165025X-BJA10010
Guritno, D. C., Samudro, B. R., & Soesilo, A. M. (2019). The paradox of political dynasties of regeneration type and poverty in regional autonomy era. International Journal of Ethics and Systems, 35(2), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-05-2018-0069
Gurri, M. (2018). The revolt of the public and the crisis of authority in the new millennium. Stripe Press.
Hara, T. (2021). Beyond personalistic politics: A progressive congresswoman’s challenge to a political dynasty in Dinagat Islands, Philippines. Philippine Political Science Journal, 42(1), 30–55. https://doi.org/10.1163/2165025X-bja10014
Hidayat, R. (2019). Public distrust and environmental citizenship: Primary impetuses of radical protest in Bima District, 2011-2012. Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Ilmu Politik, 22(3), 187–200. https://doi.org/10.22146/JSP.35981
Hidayat, R. (2024a). A bibliometric review of global research on constituency service (1975–2024). Thammasat Review, 27(1), 248–285. https://doi.org/10.14456/tureview.2024.11
Hidayat, R. (2024b). Mapping patterns and trends in uncontested elections research (1965–2024). Interdisciplinary Political Studies, 10(2), 145–173.
Kamaluddin, K., Adilansyah, A., Taufiq, M., Sauki, M., & Hidayat, R. (2022). Certain new media platforms as framing strategy? A case study of the successful anarchist social protest in Central Indonesia. Baltic Journal of Law & Politics, 15(3), 465–483.
Kenawas, Y. C. (2023). The irony of Indonesia’s democracy: The rise of dynastic politics in the post-Suharto era. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 8(3), 748–764. https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231195970
Kimura, E., & Anugrah, I. (2024). Indonesia in 2023: Between democracy and dynasty. Asian Survey, 64(2), 267–277. https://doi.org/10.1525/as.2024.64.2.267
Lucey, B. M., Kumar, S., & Sureka, R. (2023). Corruption in finance research: The state of art and future research agenda. Journal of Economic Criminology, 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconc.2023.100001
Maharani, A. E. P., Baskara, A., & Suwadi, P. (2024). Comparison of political dynasty in Indonesia and the United States. Revista de Gestao Social e Ambiental, 18(4). https://doi.org/10.24857/rgsa.v18n4-016
Marwiyah, S., Boman, S., & Wahid, A. (2017). Impact of the culture of political dynasty on earthing the constitutional democracy. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(12), 1121–1127.
Mendoza, R. U. (2023). Inequality, oligarchy, and dynasty. DLSU Business & Economics Review, 32(2), 200–215.
Mendoza, R. U., & Banaag, M. S. (2020). Political and economic inequality: Insights from Philippine data on political dynasties. Journal of Global South Studies, 37(2), 294–319. https://doi.org/10.1353/GSS.2020.0029
Mendoza, R. U., Beja Jr., E. L., Venida, V. S., & Yap, D. B. (2012). Inequality in democracy: Insights from an empirical analysis of political dynasties in the 15th Philippine Congress. Philippine Political Science Journal, 33(2), 132–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/01154451.2012.734094
Mendoza, R. U., Beja Jr., E. L., Venida, V. S., & Yap, D. B. (2016). Political dynasties and poverty: Measurement and evidence of linkages in the Philippines. Oxford Development Studies, 44(2), 189–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2016.1169264
Mendoza, R. U., Mendoza, G. A. S., Teehankee, J. C., Tuaño, P. A. P., & Yap, J. K. (2023). Interrogating the links between dynasties and development in the Philippines. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 8(3), 765–786. https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231182490
Mendoza, R. U., Yap, J. K., Mendoza, G. A. S., Pizarro, A. L. J., & Engelbrecht, G. (2022). Political dynasties and terrorism: An empirical analysis using data on the Philippines. Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 10(2), 435–459. https://doi.org/10.18588/202210.00a266
Mufti, M. (2015). Factionalism and indiscipline in Pakistan’s political party system. In R. D. Long, G. Singh, Y. Samad, & I. Talbot (Eds.), State and nation-building in Pakistan: Beyond Islam and security (pp. 60–75). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315696904
Muslikhah, U., Hajri, W. A., & Santoso, D. (2019). Political dynasty and its implications for people’s welfare. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change, 10(2), 246–252.
Nethipo, V. (2024). Dynastic democracy: Political families of Thailand. Journal of Asian Studies, 83(2), 503–505. https://doi.org/10.1215/00219118-11057950
Nethipo, V., Phon-Amnuai, N., & Vongsayan, H. (2023). Disrupting the grip: Political dynasties and Thailand’s 2023 general elections. Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs, 45(3), 364-371.
Nishizaki, Y. (2013). The King and Banharn: Towards an elaboration of network monarchy in Thailand. South East Asia Research, 21(1), 69–103. https://doi.org/10.5367/sear.2013.0140
Nishizaki, Y. (2018). New wine in an old bottle: Female politicians, family rule, and democratization in Thailand. The Journal of Asian Studies, 77(2), 375–403. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002191181700136X
Nishizaki, Y. (2019). Ironic political reforms: Elected senators, party-list MPs, and family rule in Thailand. Critical Asian Studies, 51(2), 210–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2019.1574596
Nishizaki, Y. (2023). Family ties that bind: Decentralisation, local elites and the provincial administrative organisations in Thailand. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and-National Studies of Southeast Asia, 11(1), 45–70. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2022.8
Nishizaki, Y. (2024). Dynastic female politicians and family rule in Thailand: Evidence from the 2019 and 2023 general elections. Critical Asian Studies, 56(3), 321–349. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2024.2370031
Noak, P. A. (2024). Analysis of the existence of political dynasties in village head elections in Indonesia. International Journal of Religion, 5(10), 1135–1145. https://doi.org/10.61707/4bnbga38
Prihatini, E., & Halimatusa’diyah, I. (2024). Gender, political dynasties, and committee assignments: Evidence from Indonesia. Parliamentary Affairs, 77(1), 196–214. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsac019
Purdey, J. (2016a). Narratives to power: The case of the Djojohadikusumo family dynasty over four generations. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 369–385. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659728
Purdey, J. (2016b). Political families in Southeast Asia. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 319–327. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659027
Purdey, J., Aspinall, E., & As’ad, M. U. (2016). Understanding family politics: Successes and failures of political dynasties in regional Indonesia. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 420–435. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659571
Purdey, J., & Kongkirati, P. (2016). Evolving power of provincial political families in Thailand: Dynastic power, party machine and ideological politics. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 386–406. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659570
Purdey, J., Tadem, T. S. E., & Tadem, E. C. (2016). Political dynasties in the Philippines: Persistent patterns, perennial problems. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 328–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659730
Purwaningsih, T., & Widodo, B. E. C. (2020). The interplay of incumbency, political dinasty and corruption in Indonesia: Are political dynasties the cause of corruption in Indonesia? Revista UNISCI, 2020(53), 157–176. https://doi.org/10.31439/UNISCI-89
Querubin, P. (2016). Family and politics: Dynastic persistence in the Philippines. Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 11(2), 151–181. https://doi.org/10.1561/100.00014182
Reyes, J. A. L., Arce, B. G. C., & Madrid, N. B. N. (2018). Do money, power, family and connections really matter in politics? Analysing factors of success in the 2010, 2013 and 2016 Philippine senatorial elections. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies, 36(2), 28–51. https://doi.org/10.22439/cjas.v36i2.5648
Rifai, R., Kamaluddin, K., & Hidayat, R. (2024). Exploring the roots and solutions of maladministration, power abuse, or corruption in contemporary Indonesian villages. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 32(3), 1115–1140. https://doi.org/10.47836/pjssh.32.3.15
Rodan, G. (2021). Inequality and political representation in the Philippines and Singapore. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 51(2), 233–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2019.1607531
Savirani, A. (2016). Survival against the odds: The Djunaid family of Pekalongan, Central Java. South East Asia Research, 24(3), 407–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967828X16659731
Schafferer, C. (2023). Political dynasties and democratization: A case study of Taiwan. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 8(3), 708–726. https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911221148830
Solon, J., Fabella, R., & Capuno, J. (2009). Is local development good politics? Local development expenditures and the re-election of governors in the Philippines in the 1990s. Asian Journal of Political Science, 17(3), 265–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/02185370903403475
Teehankee, J. C. (2018). House of clans: Political dynasties in the legislature. In M. R. Thompson & E. C. Batalla (Eds.), Routledge handbook of the contemporary Philippines (pp. 85–96). Routledge.
Teehankee, J. C., Chambers, P., & Echle, C. (2023). Introduction: Political dynasties in Asia. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 8(3), 661–670. https://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231185786
Thananithichot, S., & Satidporn, W. (2016). Political dynasties in Thailand: The recent picture after the 2011 general election. Asian Studies Review, 40(3), 340–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/10357823.2016.1193473
Tuaño, P. A., & Cruz, J. (2019). Structural inequality in the Philippines: Oligarchy, (im)mobility and economic transformation. Journal of Southeast Asian Economies, 36(3), 304–328.
Tusalem, R. F., & Pe-Aguirre, J. J. (2013). The effect of political dynasties on effective democratic governance: Evidence from the Philippines. Asian Politics and Policy, 5(3), 359–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.12037
Tyson, A., & Nawawi. (2022). Dictators never die: Political transition, dynastic regime recovery and the 2021 Suharto commemoration in Indonesia. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 44(3), 421–452.
Ufen, A. (2017). Political finance and corruption in Southeast Asia: Causes and challenges. In C. Rowley & M. D. Rama (Eds.), The changing face of corruption in the Asia Pacific: Current perspectives and future challenges (pp. 23–33). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101109-6.00002-2
Wardani, S. B. E., & Subekti, V. S. (2021). Political dynasties and women candidates in Indonesia’s 2019 election. Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, 40(1), 28–49. https://doi.org/10.1177/1868103421991144
Yuliadi, I., Sumitro, Anwar, Umanailo, M. C. B., Kurniawansyah, E., Rusli, M., & Ibrahim, Z. (2021). Political dynasty in eye of the community (Sociological study of political awareness in Bima regency election 2020). Proceedings of the 11th Annual International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Singapore, 3884–3890.
Zialcita, J. P. L. (2024). The Philippines in 2023: The UniTeam unravels. Philippine Political Science Journal, 45(1), 82–103.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Rahmad Hidayat
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
