Abstract
In Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, elites have attempted to harness state-based anticorruption agencies to intra-elite struggles while societal groups have sought to render them meaningful checks on corruption. These struggles remain inconclusive but democratic forces are not well placed. In the Philippines, the power of the Catholic Church has enabled substantial mobilizations against corruption, but the reformist import of these is restricted by an overwhelmingly moralist ideological orientation. In Indonesia, civil society groups have mobilized against corruption using a mix of liberal and democratic ideals, but these groups are small and weak and have had difficulty using anticorruption campaigns to instigate wider reform movements. In Thailand, elites have harnessed moral populism promoting the authority of the monarchy in attempts to prevail over both political competitors and powerful societal mobilizations. Groups seeking to promote substantive democratic change have become targets of repression and/or co-optation by liberals, moralists, and opportunists.