Abstract
Labour control through coercion, violence, and restrictive laws is well analysed for Southeast Asia. Less understood is why, how, and to what effect, political participatory institutions articulate with labour control strategies. Central to such an understanding is analysis of political coalitions shaping these institutions, and the historical and dynamic political economy foundations of these coalitions. In this article it is argued that an ideologically cohesive coalition of technocratic politico-bureaucrats seized power in Singapore during the Cold War, and established state capitalism through which both labour and private capital can be politically disciplined. These power relations are integral to the capacity for state-sponsored participation rationalised through ideologies of consultative authoritarianism. By contrast, in post-Cold War Cambodia, a coalition encompassing private conglomerates, domestic political actors, international investors, and organisations initially supported labour participation but without ideological consensus over why or how. Intra-coalitional tensions emerged when trade unions aligned with political opposition to challenge crony capitalism’s patronage networks and ideologies linking the ruling party and domestic business, leading to greater reliance on state coercion to control labour.
