Overview

This book examines the quality of democracies in Asia and determines why current democracies—especially during the so-called “new normal” era following the 2008 financial crisis—have become less stable and less resilient to increasing authoritarianism. Based on the assumption that the concept of democracy consists of three elements—procedure (participation, competition, and distribution of power); effectiveness (representation, accountability, and responsiveness); and performance (social welfare, inequality, and trust)—the contributors to this book determine which elements are responsible for diverging trajectories within the Asian democratic recession. Examining South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Myanmar, and China, the authors employ different research methods—quantitative, comparative, or individual case studies—to explore the conditions under which democratic rules and norms erode over time, and which type of governance is preferred by citizens in this region as an ideal type. The book puts forward the argument that a procedure-oriented concept of democracy is not sufficient for understanding the source of democratic recession and develops a new concept of “new democracy” based on procedure, effectiveness, and performance. It also demonstrates to what extent the experience changes and how the countries respond to these changes. A novel contribution on the state of democracy in Asia written by experts from the region, this book will be of interest to academics in the field of political science, especially comparative politics and international relations, regional study of East and Southeast Asia, sociology, public policy, economics, and social science methods. Also, this book will appeal to think tanks and policy-oriented researchers.

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9781032220703

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Reviews

"""[T]his book offers a valuable contribution to the study of Asian politics. Most research in comparative politics has examined the emergence, development and maintenance of the western tradition of liberal democracy, but the same attention has not been awarded to Asian democratic transitions and consolidations. By investigating the trajectories of political development in the continent, the contributors demonstrate that there is no ‘one size fits all’ model of democracy. […] The book is an essential resource for those studying Asian comparative politics, as it covers various regime types and utilizes both quantitative and qualitative research methods."" --Yatana Yamahata, Nagoya University, Japan, International Relations theory"

Author Information

Kuyoun Chung is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Kangwon National University, South Korea. Wonbin Cho is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea.

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