The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia

It is a known fact that Malaysia has been ruled by a coalition of political parties demarcated along ethnic lines since independence more than 50 years ago. How has this affected democratic governance in a relatively young multi-ethnic nation? Some have argued that ethnic, religious, or linguistic...

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Main Author: Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/1/document%20%281%29.pdf
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recordtype eprints
spelling iium-633162018-04-12T09:33:08Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/ The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad JA Political science (General) JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia It is a known fact that Malaysia has been ruled by a coalition of political parties demarcated along ethnic lines since independence more than 50 years ago. How has this affected democratic governance in a relatively young multi-ethnic nation? Some have argued that ethnic, religious, or linguistic politics threaten democracy as they leave room for the majority to abuse the minorities, which in turn disrupts democratic governance of a country. This paper will argue against this idea that consolidation of democracy is difficult in a heterogeneous society by using Malaysia’s leadership and institutions after independence as an example. The approach to the problem is to account for Malaysia’s relative stability and repeated experiences with elections as evidence that having multiple ethnicities do not necessarily have to lead to discord in a country, but could instead lay the foundation for democratic consolidation. This argument is appealing because the relationship between diversity and democracy is an on-going debate as racial and religious conflicts are occurring almost everywhere in the world. IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia 2017-12 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/1/document%20%281%29.pdf Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad (2017) The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia. Intellectual Discourse, 25 (2). pp. 321-339. ISSN 2289-5639 E-ISSN 2289-5639 http://journals.iium.edu.my/intdiscourse/index.php/islam/about/contact
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution International Islamic University Malaysia
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
language English
topic JA Political science (General)
JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia
spellingShingle JA Political science (General)
JQ715 Politics and Government in Malaysia
Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad
The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia
description It is a known fact that Malaysia has been ruled by a coalition of political parties demarcated along ethnic lines since independence more than 50 years ago. How has this affected democratic governance in a relatively young multi-ethnic nation? Some have argued that ethnic, religious, or linguistic politics threaten democracy as they leave room for the majority to abuse the minorities, which in turn disrupts democratic governance of a country. This paper will argue against this idea that consolidation of democracy is difficult in a heterogeneous society by using Malaysia’s leadership and institutions after independence as an example. The approach to the problem is to account for Malaysia’s relative stability and repeated experiences with elections as evidence that having multiple ethnicities do not necessarily have to lead to discord in a country, but could instead lay the foundation for democratic consolidation. This argument is appealing because the relationship between diversity and democracy is an on-going debate as racial and religious conflicts are occurring almost everywhere in the world.
format Article
author Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad
author_facet Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad
author_sort Shukri, Syaza Farhana Mohamad
title The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia
title_short The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia
title_full The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia
title_fullStr The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed The role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of Malaysia
title_sort role of ethnic politics in promoting democratic governance: a case study of malaysia
publisher IIUM Press, International Islamic University Malaysia
publishDate 2017
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/63316/1/document%20%281%29.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T21:29:48Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T21:29:48Z
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