Title: Public Opinion Towards Democratic Reforms and Compromise in a New Democracy
Time: November 20 (Thur), 12:00-13:00
Venue: TSE Common Area
Speaker: Elvin ONG (Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore)
Short Bio:
Elvin ONG is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS). His primary research interest is in comparative democratisation in Northeast and Southeast Asia, with a specific focus on the role of opposition parties. His research has been published in disciplinary journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Party Politics, Democratization, alongside regionally focused journals such as the Pacific Affairs, Journal of East Asian Studies, and Contemporary Southeast Asia. His book, Opposing Power: Building Opposition Alliances in Electoral Autocracies, was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2022. Dr Ong received his PhD in Political Science from Emory University. Outside of NUS, he is the Chair of the Association for Asian Studies, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei (MSB) Studies Group.
Lecture Abstract:
Consolidating democracy requires democratic reforms to expand civil liberties, enhance transparency, and improve accountability. Political elites complicate the reform process by influencing public opinion. To understand how the framing of democratic reforms affects public opinion, we conducted a survey experiment in Malaysia, a new democracy since 2018. We also provide observational evidence of attitudes toward compromise solutions that balance competing group interests. We report three key findings. First, messages that emphasize improvements to the country’s democratic institutions do not increase support for reforms. Second, ethnic appeals that frame reforms as threatening the dominant ethnic group’s status decrease support among its members. Third, proposed compromise solutions can increase support for democratic reforms, but only for reforms lacking broad-based support. Our results underscore the deep challenges of democratic consolidation in new democracies, and suggest how the nuanced framing of reforms can potentially overcome these obstacles.
Lecture Summary:
Professor Elvin Ong, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore, presents “Public Opinion Towards Democratic Reforms and Compromise in a New Democracy”, examining how public attitudes shape the prospects for democratic consolidation in multiethnic societies. Using Malaysia (a new democracy since 2018 and marked by intense political instability) as a case study, Ong explores how elite framing of reforms influences citizen support. The opposition alliance Pakatan Harapan (PH) defeated the long-dominant Barisan Nasional (BN), but frequent changes in government underscore the challenges of sustaining reform.
Ong investigates two core questions: first, how framing appeals affect support for democratic reforms, and second, how citizens respond to political compromise. Democratic reforms are defined as institutional changes enhancing vertical (inclusivity) and horizontal (accountability) aspects of democracy, while political compromise involves negotiated agreements among actors with divergent policy and distributional preferences.
Survey evidence shows that framing matters. “Negative ethnic grievance” frames, emphasizing threats to Malay dominance, significantly reduce support for reforms among the majority, whereas appeals emphasizing general democratic gains are largely ineffective. Conversely, compromise solutions can increase support, particularly for reforms lacking broad public backing. Malays, as the key constituency, show reduced baseline support for reforms but respond more favorably to negotiated compromises.
Ong situates these findings within theories of democratic consolidation, ethnic cleavages, and framing effects. He highlights the ethnic security dilemma, where elite strategies can either impede or facilitate reform depending on how compromises are structured. His study underscores that democratic consolidation in multiethnic new democracies is gradual, contingent on negotiation, careful framing, and compromise to reconcile competing group interests, especially where entrenched privileges exist.
Composed by: Nicole Richi (TSE senior student)