Natioonal politics at the village level: paradoxical perspectives on Chinese‐Malaysian “factionalism”

Political collectivities at the local level are simultaneously the sum of their own parts and merely smaller parts of larger, defining wholes. To understand local‐level political form and action we must acknowledge the potential for paradox in such dualism and examine such collectivities from a multiplicity of perspectives and time frames. This paper analyzes a case in which political movement and political faction are inextricably interwoven. The encompassing political environment lends its own definition, along with constraints and supports, to local‐level political formations. [politics, movements, factions, nested systems, overseas Chinese, Malaysia]