Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia

Barisan Nasional (and its predecessor Perikatan) has won all Federal Elections and most of the state elections since the Independence of Malaya and the formation of Malaysia. Why is this so? In this paper I conceptualize possible reasons why BN won. I begin with Newman and Sheth’s (1985) static mode...

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Main Author: Mohd. Kamal, K.A.
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1281/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1281/1/schumpeterian%20democracy.pdf
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author Mohd. Kamal, K.A.
author_facet Mohd. Kamal, K.A.
author_sort Mohd. Kamal, K.A.
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Barisan Nasional (and its predecessor Perikatan) has won all Federal Elections and most of the state elections since the Independence of Malaya and the formation of Malaysia. Why is this so? In this paper I conceptualize possible reasons why BN won. I begin with Newman and Sheth’s (1985) static model of primary voting behavior and then adapt this model to fit into the Malaysian context, in particular by identifying distortions in the markets of information and impediments in the market of political positions. More importantly, I will incorporate the dynamic major political processes outside of elections into that model, whilst seeing the voter to be the consumer of public services from political markets. From this model, the tentative conclusion of the winnability of BN lies in its ability to distort the markets of information, besides being able to impede the political markets. However, due to changes, this explanation cannot be sustained; I therefore suggest a new way of thinking about voting behavior in Malaysia that puts the voter as the central component.
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spelling unimas-12812020-08-18T03:35:30Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1281/ Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia Mohd. Kamal, K.A. HB Economic Theory JC Political theory Barisan Nasional (and its predecessor Perikatan) has won all Federal Elections and most of the state elections since the Independence of Malaya and the formation of Malaysia. Why is this so? In this paper I conceptualize possible reasons why BN won. I begin with Newman and Sheth’s (1985) static model of primary voting behavior and then adapt this model to fit into the Malaysian context, in particular by identifying distortions in the markets of information and impediments in the market of political positions. More importantly, I will incorporate the dynamic major political processes outside of elections into that model, whilst seeing the voter to be the consumer of public services from political markets. From this model, the tentative conclusion of the winnability of BN lies in its ability to distort the markets of information, besides being able to impede the political markets. However, due to changes, this explanation cannot be sustained; I therefore suggest a new way of thinking about voting behavior in Malaysia that puts the voter as the central component. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak 2011 Working Paper NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1281/1/schumpeterian%20democracy.pdf Mohd. Kamal, K.A. (2011) Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia. [Working Paper]
spellingShingle HB Economic Theory
JC Political theory
Mohd. Kamal, K.A.
Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia
title Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia
title_full Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia
title_fullStr Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia
title_short Schumpeterian Democracy and the Winnability of Barisan Nasional : Voting Behavior and Political Markets Distortions in Malaysia
title_sort schumpeterian democracy and the winnability of barisan nasional : voting behavior and political markets distortions in malaysia
topic HB Economic Theory
JC Political theory
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1281/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1281/1/schumpeterian%20democracy.pdf