ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the transformation of state and society in Northeast and Southeast Asia from a comparative perspective and examines whether globalization and the opportunities and challenges of recent decades have shrunk or enlarged the space of civil society, with particular attention to the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Has economic growth and the rapid expansion of the middle class facilitated the democratization in East Asia? Or have they catalyzed political and social change in different directions? Given that the World Economic Forum predicts that by 2030 Asia’s gross domestic product will contribute to 60% of global growth and 90% of the world’s new middle class, the answers to this question are essential for understanding the relationship between economic growth and democratization worldwide. Despite the postcolonial heritage of the strong state and social resistance to the idea of civil society, “developmental states” such as those of the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia indeed evolved from developmental dictatorship and/or bureaucratic authoritarianism to liberal democracy between the 1980s and 2000s. In contrast, the success of the China model of economic growth has offered a different approach to civil society, while the continued protests in Hong Kong suggest the possible pushback against it.
