This chapter presents a state-centered explanation of the uneven development of armed, Communist-led revolutionary movements in Southeast Asia in the aftermath of the Second World War. More specifically, it attempts to explain why Communist movements became formidable threats to incumbent regimes in Vietnam, Malaya, and the Philippines during the decade or so following World War II, but not in Indonesia. The following chapter attempts to explain why only the Vietnamese Communist insurgency was subsequently able to seize state power (at least, during the period under examination, in northern Vietnam), while the other two Communist insurgencies that developed in the region were defeated.

After noting some of the common characteristics of Southeast Asian societies at midcentury, I examine two hypotheses about “Indonesian exceptionalism” (i.e., the absence of a Communist-led national liberation movement in that country), and present my own solution to this puzzle.