ABSTRACT

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Malaysia offers a broad, analytical survey of Malaysia. It provides a comprehensive survey of significant topics in Malaysian politics, economy, and society today, focussing on issues, institutions, and trends. It is divided into four thematic sections, which are all introduced by the editor:

• Domestic politics

• Economics

• Social policy and social development

• International relations and security.

The volume brings together an international team of experts: an interdisciplinary mix of forty contributors from Malaysia and elsewhere, including many of the leading specialists on Malaysian affairs. The chapters included in the volume form an accessible and fascinating window onto contemporary Malaysia. They each introduce a different aspect of the Malaysian polity, economy, or society, offering both historical perspective and a current assessment or investigation. Designed for general readers and specialists alike, chapters may be read individually -- each stands on its own -- or conjointly.

Up-to-date, interdisciplinary, and academically rigorous, the Handbook will be of interest to students, academics, policymakers, and others in search of reliable information on Malaysian politics, economics, and society.

part 1|122 pages

Domestic politics

chapter 1a|3 pages

Overview

chapter 1|11 pages

Elections in Malaysia

Voting behaviour and electoral integrity

chapter 3|14 pages

Malaysia’s unexceptionalism

Like elsewhere, elites are fractious

chapter 6|11 pages

Centralised federalism in Malaysia

Is change in the offing?

chapter 7|10 pages

Exporting the BN/UMNO model

Politics in Sabah and Sarawak

chapter 8|10 pages

Local government in urban Malaysia

chapter 9|13 pages

Public administration in Malaysia

Origins, influence and assessment

chapter 10|11 pages

Social movements in contemporary Malaysia

The cases of BERSIH, HINDRAF and Perkasa

part 2|133 pages

Economics

chapter 11a|3 pages

Overview

chapter 11|15 pages

Malaysia’s development strategies

Governing distribution-through-growth

chapter 12|14 pages

Fiscal and monetary policy in Malaysia

Juggling economic imperatives and political reality

chapter 13|15 pages

Affirmative action

Hefty measures, mixed outcomes, muddled thinking

chapter 14|12 pages

The middle class in Malaysia

Market expansion, consumption and vulnerabilities

chapter 15|11 pages

Natural resource extraction and political dependency

Malaysia as a rentier state

chapter 16|14 pages

Rent-seeking and money politics in Malaysia

Ethnicity, cronyism and class

chapter 17|12 pages

Labour in Malaysia

Flexibility, policy-making and regulated borders

chapter 19|13 pages

Rural transformations

chapter 20|11 pages

The great transformation

Urbanisation and urbanism in Malaysia

part 3|113 pages

Social policy and social development

chapter 21a|3 pages

Overview

chapter 21|12 pages

Ethnicity and identity formation

Colonial knowledge, colonial structures and transition

chapter 23|12 pages

Civil liberties in contemporary Malaysia

Progress, retrogression and the resurgence of ‘Asian values’

chapter 24|10 pages

Educational reforms in Malaysia

Towards equity, quality and efficiency

chapter 26|13 pages

Interfaith relations in Malaysia

Moving beyond Muslims versus ‘others’

chapter 27|10 pages

Culture and the arts in Malaysia

Playing to multiple galleries 1

chapter 28|14 pages

Filling in the gaps

The pursuit of gender equality in Malaysia

chapter 29|13 pages

Sexual citizenship in conflict 1

part 4|76 pages

International relations and security

chapter 30a|2 pages

Overview

chapter 30|12 pages

Foreign policy priorities

chapter 31|12 pages

Malaysia’s security concerns

A contemporary assessment

chapter 32|14 pages

Malaysia and the United States

A maturing partnership

chapter 33|11 pages

Malaysia–China relations 1

Three enduring themes