Democratization in Confucian East Asia: Citizen Politics in China ...

This book argues that as a result of economic development and social changes, these East Asian societies have seen a steady growth of prodemocratic attitudes among their publics. Largely following economic acceleration of each individual society, such value changes started in Japan during the 1930s; in the newly industrialized countries of South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore during the 1950s and 1960s; in China during the 1980s; and in Vietnam in the 1990s. These prodemocratic attitudes translated into pressures on the ruling elites, who then had to introduce political liberalization and institutional reforms. In Japan, such rising public pressures led to reform in democratic institutions, resulting in a higher quality of democracy. In South Korea and Taiwan, the process grew and evolved through the 1980s and 1990s, amounting to a thorough transition from authoritarianism to democracy. In China, public pressure for political openness started to simmer in the late 1980s, with much political liberalization and relaxation taking place. Similar patterns have arisen in Vietnam, following its economic liberalization starting in the 1990s. In general, democratization in East Asia likely will follow the patterns manifested in South Korea and Taiwan: democratization will take place following a rise in people’s prodemocratic values caused by a significant period of economic development and social modernization.

This book focuses on China, as well. To a large extent, democracy in East Asia depends on whether China will become a stable democracy. Without China’s becoming a democracy, the democratization of its smaller neighbors such as North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar will stall or remain unlikely, while democracy in Taiwan and even in South Korea will suffer negative consequences.