ABSTRACT
This chapter lays out a structure-institutional framework to explain the transformation of the traditional East Asian political order in modern East Asian states. This theory assumes power structures, political institutions and social norms as key components that sustain a political order in the polity. It claims that the power relations among influential political forces determine the types of authority relations that are legitimate and effective under the prevailing political institutions and social norms. This power and authority structure further influences the purpose and method of political action by influential political forces. This chapter theorizes that hierarchic power structures, centralized authority relations and Confucian Buddhist norms and values defined the traditional East Asian political order, and political change and their different outcomes are driven by change in the power structures, authority relations and political culture in each of the East Asian states.
