Malaysia: Mahathirism,Hegemony and the New Opposition

Malaysia is an increasingly important player. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now Asia’s longest-serving leader. This major new book on Malaysian politics offers a profound and up-to-date analysis of the Mahathir project, examining how Mahathir has, over 20 years, translated the basis of the ruling bloc’s legitimacy from one of coercive domination and ethnic card-playing into a more consensual form of hegemonic support.

The book argues that Mahathir has made considerable strides in building consent. This has involved developmentalist strategies, a language of post-ethnic nationalism and the prospect of expanding social rewards. However this rapid development has also created complex class identities, social dislocations and civil pressures. With the 1997 economic débâcle and purging of his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim, new problems have appeared within the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and its leading party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). As Mahathir seeks to rebuild ideological support other parties have mounted a counter-hegemonic alternative to the prevailing project. 

This major work provides an insightful and detailed understanding of these contending forces and the new engagement of ideas taking place within Malaysia’s changing political landscape.