ABSTRACT
We summarize the findings in previous chapters and explore their theoretical significance. The varied extents of political change show the effects of two political traditions in polity organization: statism and pluralism. Each represents a different kind of political order defined by the type of power structure, authority relations and normative values and identities prevailing in the polity. The key difference between statism and pluralism is the location of power and authority among influential political forces in the polity. We discuss the structural, institutional and normative character of the traditional East Asian political order, and how political change evolves in modern East Asian states in shifts in the power structure, change in authority relations and developments in the national political culture in each of these states. The working of the statist and pluralist dynamics largely confirms the expectations of our theory of political change and explains the types of political order that have emerged in modern East Asian states in the twenty-first century.
