This chapter lays out the conceptual framework for the volume. It begins by offering a working definition of civil society as a space open to ideas and organisations, largely but not exclusively domestic, rather than a set of organisations of a particular ilk – and of violence-tolerating ‘uncivil society’ as operating in the same broad milieu. Surveying the literature on civil society as well as the parameters and key features of local experience over time, the chapter teases out both where the civil society literature offers useful insight or falls short, and what Southeast Asian cases might contribute to it. Importantly, associated with (whatever the direction of causality) a turn towards democratic backsliding or autocratisation across the region has been the (re-)emergence of anti-democratic civil society organisations (CSOs) and social movements – those openly exclusive in their messages and membership, inclined towards violent tactics, or supportive of anti-democratic regimes. While ‘progressive’, pro-democratic, broadly inclusive CSOs remain active and critically important, a spatial perspective on civil society makes clear the ideological, strategic, and aspirational range this sphere subsumes. The chapter concludes with an overview of the contributions to come in the volume.

The Routledge Handbook of Civil and Uncivil Society in Southeast Asia explores the nature and implications of civil society across the region, engaging systematically with both theoretical approaches and empirical nuance for a systematic, comparative, and informative approach.

The handbook actively analyses the varying definitions of civil society, critiquing the inconsistent scrutiny of this sphere over time. It brings forth the need to reconsider civil society development in today’s Southeast Asia, including activist organisations' and platforms' composition, claims, resources, and potential to effect sociopolitical change. Structured in five parts, the volume includes chapters written by an international set of experts analysing topics relating to society:

• Spaces and platforms
• Place within politics
• Resources and tactics
• Identity formation and claims
• Advocacy

The handbook highlights the importance of civil society as a domain for political engagement outside the state and parties, across Southeast Asia, as well as the prevalence and weight of 'uncivil' dimensions. It offers a well-informed and comprehensive analysis of the topic and is an indispensable reference work for students and researchers in the fields of Asian Studies, Asian Politics, Southeast Asian Politics and Comparative Politics.

This article introduces the pieces collected in this special issue on the legacies of the Cold War in East and Southeast Asia. Linking to the Journal of Contemporary Asia’s 50th Anniversary volume, it examines the origins and conflicts associated with the Cold War in Asia. In this special issue, the authors collectively examine the enduring legacies for the region of US engagements that established a set of politically authoritarian regimes trumpeting anti-communism while promoting American-style capitalism. While the path-dependence of this historical moment has not by itself bequeathed Asia’s current crop of authoritarian governments, the authors argue that the current situation cannot be fully understood without reference to Cold War legacies. This introductory article contextualises the pieces in the special issue by providing a broad overview of the variety of Cold War political and economic legacies for the region. It concludes by noting the importance of the kinds of detailed, critical, theoretically informed and empirically rich research that Journal of Contemporary Asia has encouraged since its inception.

A combination of economic transformation, political transitions and changes in media have substantially, if incrementally, altered the terrain for political participation globally, particularly in Asia, home to several of the most dramatic such shifts over the past two decades. This book explores political participation in Asia and how democracy and authoritarianism function under neoliberal economic relations. It examines changes that coincide seemingly perversely with a participation explosion: with mass street protests and ‘occupations’, energetic online contention, movements of students and workers, mobilization for and against democracy and more. Organized thematically in three parts – political participation in a ‘post-democratic’ context, changes in the scope and character of political space and the policing of that space – this book analyzes economic, regime and media shifts and how they function in tandem and both within and across states.