Book Review: John J Robinson, The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical Autocracy
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917716888 |
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| Author | André P Debattista |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsAsia and the Pacific |
676 Political Studies Review 15(4)
and diverse political leaders since the return of
democracy. In this sense, they question the rea-
sons why the region has produced this type of
dominant leader.
The book is the result of extensive research,
consisting of 285 interviews with politicians
from five countries in the region, namely,
Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and
Uruguay. During these interviews, aspects
related to the politicians’ ideas, objectives,
perceptions and beliefs were addressed which
contributed to the analysis of the leaders’ per-
formance and democratic quality.
The first chapter addresses the issue of
how to study political leaders. The authors
present the hypothesis and methodological
aspects of their research. The second chapter
offers a new typology of leadership built from
the interviews conducted. Diamint and
Tedesco identify four groups of democratic
leaders: democracy enhancers, ambivalent
democrats, soft power usurpers and power
usurpers. In chapters 3 to 5, their typology is
put into practice by analysing the countries
considered in the sample.
Chapter 6 presents the conclusions
reached, which reveal that the emergence of
different types of leadership is related to the
political context and the degree of institution-
alisation of the parties. This occurrence is
also linked to the degree of electoral compe-
tence and autonomy of the leader. In this
sense, the authors conclude that ‘the deterio-
ration of political parties undermines the pos-
sibility of training democratic leaders and the
tools needed to prevent undemocratic leaders
taking power’ (p. 151).
The authors succeed in their original goal
of offering a clear description of the emer-
gence of a certain type of leadership by
relating it to the context of political parties.
However, what seems less clear is the role
which the leaders themselves have played in
the transformation of those contexts. This is
worth mentioning, considering the authors’
concluding claim that leaders are both
‘makers and products of political history’
(p. 152).
The book is easy to read and it offers a
detailed explanation of the methodology used,
the decisions made and the difficulties and
challenges encountered during the research. In
this sense, it is an excellent book for academic
purposes.
Consuelo Thiers
(University of Edinburgh)
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917712906
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Asia and the Pacific
The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical
Autocracy by John J Robinson. London: C.
Hurst & Co., 2015. 360pp., £16.99 (p/b), ISBN
9781849045896
Rigid hierarchies, contentious social relations
and polarised politics dominate small island
societies. Politicians are often omnipresent and
omnipotent, thereby hindering the creation of
independent institutions.
The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical
Autocracy explores some of these themes. John
Robinson was the editor of the Maldives’ only
independent English-language media outlet.
He witnessed the Maldives’ struggle with sus-
taining a fully functioning democracy as ‘an
observer simultaneously engaged with and
detached from the Maldives and its colourful
cast of victims, villains and heroes’ (p. xvii).
He cogently argues that the Maldives were ‘a
bellwether for the Arab Spring’. Like several
other island states, the Maldives are ‘a test bed
for the world’s current political, social, eco-
nomic, religious and environmental maladies’
(p. xviii). The author arrived in the Maldives in
2009 – a year after the introduction of a multi-
party democracy. Former President Maumoon
Abdul Gayoom emerges as the éminence grise
of Maldivian politics. His successor and oppo-
nent, Mohammed Nasheed, began to introduce
some reforms to reduce personal political
patronage.
Nasheed proves to be an effective and pop-
ular international climate change campaigner.
However, Byzantine domestic politics lead to
his downfall. In February 2012, Nasheed was
ousted by Vice President Mohammed Waheed
in a coup euphemistically termed a ‘controver-
sial transfer of power’.
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