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This research note addresses the question of the social base of new authoritarianism and sketches out new directions for future research. In Europe and the United States, this question has led to highly controversial debates between two camps. One side argues for a class analysis and sees a revolt of the disenfranchised and poor behind the electoral success of the right-wing populists. The other side draws on the concept of the Imperial Model of Living and focuses on a cross-class alliance in the North, defending their unsustainable consumption pattern, which rests on the exploitation of resources, sinks, and cheap labor from the South. It will be argued that a view from Southeast Asia – especially data from Thailand and the Philippines – has the potential to challenge some assumptions of this debate and add important insights. Here, a rising middle class has been in the focus of the debate on democratization in the 1980s/1990s. Starting with the Asia Crisis in 1997/1998, the rise of the new authoritarianism has also been linked to middle-class mobilization. Finally, due to the proximity to China and historical links, the re-orientation of middle classes towards China provides insights into the micro processes behind the shift in the global economic system., Austrian Journal of South-East Asian Studies, Vol 11 No 1 (2018): The Political Economy of New Authoritarianism

"The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), launched in 2010 by the Indonesian government, aims to transform 1.2 million hectares of indigenous and forest land in West Papua into largescale agribusiness estates for food and bioenergy production. This article looks both at the power structures and geopolitics behind the project and at the emerging resistance to the MIFEE land grab. What is the extent of local opposition to the project? What coalitions between local groups and organized movements and NGOs are developing and what national and international alliances are they involved in? How do they counter the state narrative of MIFEE as a development path for the region? Analyzing key documents of the different organizations and initiatives involved, the authors examine three distinct but connected narratives of opposition around the discourses of customary forest rights, Indonesian 'imperialist' subjugation of Papua, and land reform and food sovereignty. The authors argue that their relation to each other needs to be rethought in order to overcome internal divisions and to broaden and deepen the social movement opposing the project." (author's abstract), "Das Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) wurde im Jahr 2010 von der indonesischen Regierung ins Leben gerufen und zielt auf die Umwandlung von 1,2 Millionen Hektar indigenem Land und Wäldern in West Papua in großflächige Agrarindustrieflächen für die Nahrungsmittel- und Bioenergieproduktion. Der folgende Artikel betrachtet die Machtstrukturen und Geopolitiken im Hintergrund des Projekts sowie die dabei entstehende Widerstandsbewegung. In welchem Ausmaß gibt es lokalen Widerstand gegen das Projekt? Welche Koalitionen entwickeln sich zwischen lokalen Gruppen und organisierten Bewegungen und NGOs und in welche nationalen und internationalen Allianzen sind diese eingebunden? Wie entgegnen diese dem staatlichen Narrativ von MIFEE als Entwicklungspfad für die Region? Auf Basis der Analyse von Schlüsseldokumenten der unterschiedlichen involvierten Organisation und Initiativen untersuchen die Autoren drei unterschiedliche, aber miteinander verbundene Narrative des Widerstands rund um die Diskurse um Gewohnheitsrechte an Wald, die indonesische 'imperialistische' Unterwerfung Papuas sowie Landreform und Ernährungssouveränität. Sie argumentieren, dass die Beziehung zwischen diesen Diskursen neu gedacht werden muss, um die internen Spaltungen zu überwinden und die soziale Bewegung zur Ablehnung des Projekts zu verbreitern und zu vertiefen." (Autorenreferat)