Aurel Croissant is a professor of political science at Heidelberg University, Germany. His main areas of research include comparative politics of East and Southeast Asia, democratization studies, civil-military relations, conflict studies, and comparative authoritarianism. He has twenty years of experience in teaching undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in Germany, the USA, and several Asian countries. He has published 15 books, co-edited about 25 volumes and special issues, and published about 200 articles in edited volumes and academic journals such as Democratization, Party Politics, Japanese Journal of Political Science, Journal of East Asian Studies, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Pacific Review, Journal of Democracy, Asian Survey, Electoral Studies, and European Political Science Review. His publications appeared in English, German, Korean, Spanish, Indonesian, and Russian. He is the co-editor of the Journal Democratization (with Jeffrey Haynes).

Each country study includes an analysis of the political parties, legal system, state and administration, civil-military relations, civil society and political culture, as well as the media

Chapter 1. Government and Political Regimes in Southeast Asia: An Introduction.- Chapter 2. Brunei Darussalam: Malay Islamic Monarchy and Rentier State.- Chapter 3. Cambodia: From UN-Led Peace-Building to Post-genocidal Authoritarianism.- Chapter 4. Indonesia: Challenges of Conflict and Consensus in the Era of Reformasi.- Chapter 5. Laos: The Transformation of Periphery Socialism.- Chapter 6. Malaysia: Competitive Authoritarianism in a Plural Society.- Chapter 7. Myanmar: Political Conflict and the Survival of the Praetorian State.- Chapter 8. Philippines: People's Power and Defective Elite Democracy.- Chapter 9. Singapore: Contradicting Conventional Wisdom About Authoritarianism, State and Development.- Chapter 10. Thailand: The Vicious Cycle of Civilian Government and Military Rule.- Chapter 11. Timor-Leste: Challenges of Creating a Democratic and Effective State.- Chapter 12. Vietnam: The Socialist Party-State.- Chapter 13. Comparing Governments and Political Institutions in Southeast Asia.- Chapter 14. Democracy and Dictatorship in Southeast Asia - Retrospective and Prospective.