ABSTRACT
The inquiry which has been conducted here has identified problems about political culture, which are specific to the two regions examined in this study as well as problems which relate to the general characteristics of political culture. The specific problems have been mentioned throughout this volume: the starting points of the analysis were the strongly worded statements made by some Asian politicians as well as by scholars and other commentators from both Asia and the West. It had been said that basic societal values were profoundly different in the two regions and, according to some, that they were different because they were superior. We need to return to the findings which have emerged from the survey of the citizens of the eighteen countries analysed here to bring together some of the key points which have emerged. We need also, however, to broaden the context of the discussion and consider what the study of the attitudes of these citizens from the two regions suggests about the notion of ‘Asian values’ as it is usually referred to. This concluding chapter looks successively at these two aspects.
