ABSTRACT

Although the number of democratically elected governments in Asia has increased, the consolidation of democracy has proven to be a difficult business. An important ingredient in the democratization process is the role of public opinion and the extent that the public embraces democratic principles and practices. This chapter uses public opinion data from the 2005 to 2007 AsiaBarometer Survey (hereafter ABS) conducted in 12 East and Southeast Asian societies (Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Cambodia) to analyse popular perceptions of democracy, and principles and practices associated with liberal democratic governments. 1 Specifically, it focuses on several of the following interrelated questions: do democratic institutions work well in the short and long term? To what extent are citizens in these societies satisfied with various political and civil rights? Does the current political system and government perform well? The results revealed that while there are strong majorities that support many of the ideals of democracy and commitment to elections, respondents are much less satisfied in areas related to government accountability, responsiveness and the efforts of the central government. With the exception of only a few countries, there is a considerable gap between how citizens evaluate the ideals of democracy versus how they perceive its specific practices.