Book Review: Mobilizing for Elections: Patronage and Political Machines in Southeast Asia by Edward Aspinall, Meredith L. Weiss, Allen Hicken, and Paul D. Hutchcroft (Cambridge University Press, 2022)

Mobilizing for Elections is an outstanding study and will be essential reading for all interested in Southeast Asian politics, but also for scholars working generally on subjects such as electoral mobilization, clientelism, patronage, “money politics”, and political parties. It takes into account major insights from historical institutionalism and is based on extensive field research. With this approach it goes far beyond quantitative studies. It answers salient questions on who exactly mobilizes voters, what kind of patronage is used, how would-be voters respond, and what the motives of candidates and brokers are in handing out specific forms of patronage.