How East Asians View Democracy

East Asian democracies are in trouble their legitimacy threatened by poorpolicy performance and undermined by nostalgia for the progrowth softauthoritarian regi... » 

East Asian democracies are in trouble their legitimacy threatened by poorpolicy performance and undermined by nostalgia for the progrowth softauthoritarian regimes of the past. Yet citizens throughout the region valuefreedom reject authoritarian alternatives and believe in democracy. This bookis the first to report the results of a largescale surveyresearch projectthe East Asian Barometer in which eight research teams conducted nationalsample surveys in five new democracies Korea Taiwan the PhilippinesThailand and Mongolia one established democracy Japan and twonondemocracies China and Hong Kong in order to assess the prospects fordemocratic consolidation. The findings present a definitive account of the wayin which East Asians understand their governments and their roles as citizens.Contributors use their expert local knowledge to analyze responses from a setof core questions revealing both common patterns and national characteristicsin citizens views of democracy. They explore sources of divergence andconvergence in attitudes within and across nations. The findings are sobering.Japanese citizens are disillusioned. The regions new democracies have yet toprove themselves and citizens in authoritarian China assess their regimesdemocratic performance relatively favorably. The contributors to this volumecontradict the claim that democratic governance is incompatible with East Asiancultures but counsel against complacency toward the fate of democracy in theregion. While many forces affect democratic consolidation popular attitudesare a crucial factor. This book shows how and why skepticism and frustrationare the ruling sentiments among todays East Asians. «