UMNO Paramountcy

Abstract

The governing party in Malaysia, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), has operated a single-party-dominant regime since the country's independence in 1957. This type of regime lies between closed authoritarian systems on one side, and fully competitive, multi-party systems on the other. Using some insights offered by T. J. Pempel, this report documents the ways in which the UMNO has se national agendas, bargained with coalition partners, recreated followings and mobilized voters in order to perpetuate its dominance, even while respecting at least semi-democratic procedures. The report considers challenges to this political dominance, as well as the ways in which the UMNO has met them over time.