ABSTRACT

This chapter seeks to draw out conceptual and methodological issues in considering democratization in Asia - issues that will vary in importance and relevance in each regional state. The task of writing about democratization in East Asia as a whole is a hugely problematic one. It is a region that contains massive diversity in political and economic systems and one that remains in a state of considerable flux and transition. A clear notion of what East Asia means in terms of studies of democratization in large part emerges from the ‘Asian values’ debate, which in itself has been spurred by Huntington’s notion of a ‘clash of civilizations’. The idea that there is a single set of ‘Asian values’ that provides a lens through which we study democracy in East Asia should be treated with considerable scepticism. The hand of the state is not just evident in the economy; judicial power is relatively weak in many East Asian states.