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52 Comp. Pol. Stud. 3 (2019)

handle is hein.journals/compls52 and id is 1 raw text is: Article Comparative Political Studies 2019, Vol. 52(1) 3-35 Elections as Causes @The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: of D emrrio c ratizati on: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0010414018758763 Southeast Asia in journals.sagepub.com/home/cps Comparative Perspective OGE Lee Morgenbesser' and Thomas B. Pepinsky2 Abstract The theory of democratization by elections holds that elections-even when flawed-can, over time, have an independent causal effect on democratic transitions. Despite the recent growth of this literature, questions remain about the global scope of the argument and its structural preconditions. We show that, in Southeast Asia, elections are almost always the culmination rather than the cause of democratization, and use case materials from seven Southeast Asian countries to illustrate the mechanisms that lead from democratization to elections. Our argument has implications both for Southeast Asian democratization and for existing scholarship from other world regions. Keywords democratization and regime change, elections, SoutheastAsia, nondemocratic regimes Introduction The theory of democratization by elections has quickly become a prominent explanation for how even flawed elections can advance democratic change in 'Griffith University, Queensland, Australia 2Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA Corresponding Author: Thomas B. Pepinsky, Cornell University, 322 White Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Email: pepinsky@cornell.edu