Spotlight On...

SEAC Visiting Professor Dan Slater

Introducing Professor Dan Slater, James Orin Murfin Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Emerging Democracies (@umichDemocracy) at the University of Michigan.

Prof. Slater specializes in the politics and history of democracy and authoritarianism, especially in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia and Malaysia are confronting the same big question that confronts countries all over the world these days -- can democracy and diversity coexist?

1.What will you be working on during your time as SEAC Visiting Professor?

I'll hopefully be making serious headway on my latest book project, "Battles for Pluralism: Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Great Democratic Unknown." In addition to spending time with colleagues both old and new at LSE, I'll be hitting the national archives at Kew to learn more about the contingencies surrounding the territorial formation of Malaysia in 1963, which shaped that country's potential to cultivate pluralistic coalitions in lasting ways.

2.What led you to your field of study/what inspired your interest in these topics?

Indonesia and Malaysia are confronting the same big question that confronts countries all over the world these days -- can democracy and diversity coexist? It's also fascinating to me that Indonesia and Malaysia are now converging again in their regime type for the first time in over 25 years, inviting new kinds of historical comparisons.

3. How do you like to relax and unwind?

A few years ago I might have said that I like to relax and unwind by watching Chelsea games, but lately that just proves frustrating and exasperating. Reading great literature is always my surest path to relaxation though -- the more historical and international the better.