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

Chapter 1

Democratization in Modernizing Societies

Uncertainty hovers over the prospect of democracy in East Asia as we enter the 21st century. On the one hand, democracy remains stable in Japan, despite the country’s sluggish economy, while democracies in South Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia, established in the 1990s, struggle toward maturation in their own ways. On the other hand, democracy seems unlikely for many of the region’s societies. North Korea and Myanmar claim two of the most repressive regimes in the world. Despite sustained economic growth for more than 2 decades, democratization still seems out of reach in China. Similarly, in Singapore, Vietnam, and Laos, strong one-party regimes rule steadfastly. In 2006, a coup in Thailand, never a stable democracy, once again wrestled the country to military rule.