Department of Politics and International Studies
Reader in Comparative Politics
Department of Politics and International Studies
Admissions Tutor: MSc Politics of Asia
Michael Buehler is a Reader in Comparative Politics in the Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London specialising in Southeast Asian politics, his teaching and research interests revolve around state-society relations under conditions of democratization and decentralisation.
Previously he taught at Columbia University and Northern Illinois University. He has also held research fellowships at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University in Kyoto, the Center for Equality Development and Globalization Studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, the Weatherhead East Asian Institute in New York City, and the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies in Leiden.
Michael Buehler has been an Associate Research Fellow at the Asia Society in New York City since 2011.
Research interests
Comparative Politics
Elections and Party Politics
Islam
Local Politics
Southeast Asian Politics
Public Policy
PhD Supervision
Currently open for PhD supervision, offering guidance and mentorship in the areas of Comparative Politics, Democratization, Local Politics, and Southeast Asia.
Decentralisation reforms and the implications for power and authority relations in a centralised unitary state. A study of decentralisation reforms in Liberia
Review of Carlos Gervasoni (2018). Hybrid Regimes within Democracies: Fiscal Federalism and Subnational Rentier States, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Buehler, Michael, 2021, Publius: The Journal of Federalism (51), 3, pp 25-27
"Try to be more like Norway on a Sunny Day!" Regulatory Capitalism and the Challenges of Combatting Corruption in Indonesia's Upstream Oil and Gas Sector Supply Chains
Buehler, Michael, 2020, Oil, gas and energy law (4)
Review of Andreas Harsono (2019). Race, Islam and power: ethnic and religious violence in post-Suharto Indonesia. Victoria, Monash University Publishing.
Buehler, Michael, 2019, South East Asia Research (27), 4, pp 439-441
Review of Thomas B. Pepinsky, R. William Liddle, and Saiful Mujani (2018). Piety and Public Opinion: Understanding Indonesian Islam. New York: Oxford University Press.
Buehler, Michael, 2019, Perspectives on Politics (17), 2, pp 610-612
Review of Kanchan Chandra, Ed., 2016. Democratic Dynasties: State, Party and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics. New York City: Cambridge University Press.
Review of David Kloos. 2017. Becoming better Muslims: Religious authority and ethical improvement in Aceh, Indonesia. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.
Review of:Illiberal Practices: Territorial Variance within Large Federal Democracies, by Jacqueline Behrend and Laurence Whitehead. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2016.
Buehler, Michael, 2016, Publius: The Journal of Federalism (47), 1
Review of: Women and sharia law in Northern Indonesia: local women’s NGOs and the reform of Islamic law in Aceh by Dina Afrianty. New York: Routledge, 2015
Review of: Indonesian women and local politics: Islam, gender, and networks in post-Suharto Indonesia by Dewi Kurniawati Hastuti, NUS Press, Singapore, 2015.
Review of: Democrats and Autocrats: Pathways of Subnational Undemocratic Regime Continuity within Democratic Countries by Agustina Giraudy, New York: Oxford University Press 2015.; Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro 2015. Curbing Clientelism in Argentina: Politics, Poverty, and Social Policy by Rebecca Weitz-Shapiro. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Buehler, Michael, 2015, Publius: The Journal of Federalism (46), 1
Review of: Shari‘a and Social Engineering: The Implementation of Islamic Law in Contemporary Aceh, Indonesia by R. Michael Feener. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 335 pp
Buehler, Michael, 2015, Indonesia (Ithaca) (98), pp 148-152
Review of: State management of religion in Indonesia, by Myengkyo Seo, New York: Routledge, 2013; The roots of terrorismin Indonesia: from Darul Islam to Jema'ah Islamiyah, by Solahudin, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013; Contemporary developments in Indonesian Islam: explaining the “conservative turn”, edited by Martin van Bruinessen, Singapore: ISEAS,2013.
Married with Children: The second round of direct elections for governors and district heads shows that democratisation is allowing powerful families to entrench themselves in local politics.
Revisiting the inclusion-moderation thesis in the context of decentralized institutions: The behavior of Indonesia’s Prosperous Justice Party in national and local politics
Buehler, Michael, 2012, Party Politics (19), 2, pp 210-229
Book Review: Pepinsky, T. B. (2009). Economic Crises and the Breakdown of Authoritarian Regimes: Indonesia and Malaysia in Comparative Perspective. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press
Buehler, Michael, 2010, Comparative Political Studies (44), 2, pp 245-249
Review of: State of Authority: the State in Society in Indonesia, edited by Gerry van Klinken and Joshua Barker. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, 2009.
Buehler, Michael, 2010, South East Asia Research (18), 2, pp 349-359
Review of: Towards Good Society: Civil Society Actors, The State, and the Business Class in South East Asia: Facilitators of or Impediments to a Strong, Democratic, and Fair Society?" by Heinrich Boell Foundation, 2005.
Elite Competition and Changing State-Society Relations: Shari’a Policymaking in Indonesia.
Buehler, Michael (2014). In: Ford, Michele, (eds.) and Pepinsky, Tom, (eds.), Beyond Oligarchy: Wealth, Power, and Contemporary Indonesian Politics. Ithaca: Cornell Southeast Asia Program Publications, pp 157-175
Decentralisation and Local Democracy in Indonesia: The Marginalisation of the Public Sphere
Buehler, Michael (2010). In: Aspinall, Edward, (eds.) and Mietzner, Marcus, (eds.), Problems of Democratisation in Indonesia: Elections, Institutions and Society. Singapore: ISEAS, pp 267-285
The Rising Importance of Personal Networks in Indonesian Local Politics: An Analysis of the District Government Head Elections in South Sulawesi in 2005
Buehler, Michael (2009). In: Erb, Maribeth, (eds.) and Sulistiyanto, Priyambudi, (eds.), Deepening Democracy in Indonesia: Direct Elections for Local Leaders. Singapore: ISEAS, pp 101-124
Heubaum, Harald, Jackson, Felicia, Buehler, Michael, Adib-Moghaddam, Arshin and Sadriu, Behar (2018). London: (Background Paper for the 2020 World Bank report Building For Peace: Reconstruction for Security, Sustainable Peace and Equity in MENA. Washington, DC: World Bank)
Review of Winn, Patrick. Hello, Shadowlands: Inside the Meth Fiefdoms, Rebel Hideouts and Bomb-scarred Party Towns of Southeast Asia. London: Icon Books.
Indonesia’s dramatic executions hide the real problem: Indonesia’s draconian narcotics laws kill the country’s citizens – not low-level drug traffickers.
Special Feature: Indonesia’s multi-faceted response to AIDS: Administrative red tape, Inertia of political Leaders, Discrimination of patients, Subversion of donor money
Buehler, Michael (2009). Van Zorge Report. Vol.11, no.7
Decentralization, The Transport Sector, and Corruption Monitoring: The First Eastern Indonesia Transport Project
Buehler, Michael and Yunita, Rahmi (2005). Information, Incentives and Integrity: Overcoming Obstacles to Effective Anti-Corruption Monitoring in World Bank Financed Projects in Indonesia
