This is the first book in the series, Contemporary Issues in Asia and the Pacific, sponsored by the East-West Center and published by Stanford University Press.

The nations of Southeast Asia have had varying degrees of success in establishing governments and political systems that in the eyes of their citizens have achieved political legitimacy. Because these countries have much in common and at the same time differ in important ways – with political arrangements varying from Leninist state to monarchy, personal dictatorship to quasi-democracy – they offer what might be considered a naturally occurring political science experiment. This book studies political legitimacy in seven Southeast Asian countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.