Authoritarian Nostalgia in Asia - Academia Sinica

120Institute of Political ScienceAuthoritarian Nostalgia in AsiaAbstractData from the first and secondAsian Barometer Surveys (ABS) canhelp us systematically to assess theextent of normative commitmentto democracy that citizens feelin Japan, South Korea, Taiwan,Mongolia, the Philippines, andThailand. The ABS confirms that EastAsian citizens feel ambivalent aboutdemocracy, and that the region’s new democracies have seen theirpopular legitimacy stay flat or evendrop slightly. Thailand, Mongolia,and the Philippines each have alarge number of equivocal andconfused citizens whose inconsistentpolitical orientations burden theirdemocracies with a fragile foundationof legitimacy. In Taiwan and SouthKorea, authoritarianism has graduallylost its appeal, but democracy hasnot yet lived up to their citizens’ highexpectation.Yu-Tzung Chang 1 , Yun-Han Chu* 2and Chong-Min Park 31 National Taiwan University, Taipei,Taiwan2 Institute of Political Science,Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan3 Korea University, Seoul, KoreaAlthough many forces can affect a democracy’s survival chances, nodemocratic regime can stand long without legitimacy in the eyes of itsown people. What elites think matters, but for democracy to becomestable and effective, the bulk of the citizenry must develop a deepand resilient commitment to it. Data from the first and second AsianBarometer Surveys (ABS) can help us systematically to assess the extentof normative commitment to democracy that citizens feel in Japan, SouthKorea, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Thailand. The assessmentinvolves seeking answers to the following interrelated questions: Has thegrowth of democratic legitimacy in East Asia stagnated or even eroded?How detached are East Asians from authoritarian alternatives? Is popularsupport for democracy deeply rooted in a liberal-democratic politicalculture?When we began our analysis we did not expect to find a strong and resilientpopular base for democratic legitimacy in East Asia’s new democracies,let alone any enhancement of it over time. We knew that many East Asiandemocracies display socioeconomic features that in principle should befriendly to the growth of democratic legitimacy (sizeable middle classes,well-educated people, and many ties to the global economy). Yet at thesame time we feared that the region’s overall geopolitical configuration,political history, and predominant cultural legacies would act as strongdrags on the development of robust democratic political cultures. Mostof the region’s people remain under one form or other of authoritarianor at best semidemocratic rule. Few of the region’s former authoritarianregimes have been thoroughly discredited. Indeed, all too many peopleare wont to credit them with having fostered social stability and stunningeconomic growth. Finally, there is the argument—proffered by suchinfluential Western scholars as Lucian Pye and Samuel P. Huntington—thatdominant East Asian cultural traditions pose an obstacle to the acquisitionof democratic values. The ABS confirms that East Asian citizens feel ambivalent about democracy,and that the region’s new democracies have seen their popular legitimacystay flat or even drop slightly. To measure the overall level of attachmentto democracy, we constructed a 6-point (0 to 5) index of the number ofprodemocratic responses to the five questions designed to measure “thepreferability of democracy”, “desirability of democracy” “the suitability ofdemocracy, “the efficacy of democracy”, and “ the priority of democracy”respectively. Apparently, crises of governance have taken a toll on popularcommitment to democracy, pushing down the region’s average score from3.3 around 2002 to 3.0 around 2006. Now, East Asians on average acceptonly three out of five possible reasons to embrace democracy. In the threeless-developed countries among our group (Mongolia, the Philippines, andThailand), pockets of support for authoritarianism are growing rather thandiminishing. This suggests that Thailand, Mongolia, and the Philippineseach have a large number of equivocal and confused citizens whoseinconsistent political orientations burden their democracies with a fragilefoundation of legitimacy. In Taiwan and South Korea, authoritarianismhas gradually lost its appeal, but democracy has not yet lived up to theircitizens’ high expectation.

Significant Research Achievements of Academia SinicaHumanities and Social Sciences121Across East Asia the acquisition of liberal-democraticvalues has been slow and uneven. The richercountries in our group offer a sharp contrast to theirless-developed neighbors. In Japan, South Korea, andTaiwan, a great majority of citizens embrace politicalliberty, separation of powers, and rule of law. Theirmean scores were way above the region’s average. Bycontrast, Filipinos, Mongolians, and Thais gave muchmore illiberal responses, and the gap between themand Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan is widening.From the viewpoint of regime legitimacy, these threeyoung democracies appear vulnerable to any wellorchestratedhostile intervention by a strategicallypositioned antidemocratic elite.ReferencesYu-tzung Chang is associate professor of politicalscience at National Taiwan University. Yun-han Chuis Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute ofPolitical Science at Academia Sinica . Chong-MinPark is professor of public administration at KoreaUniversity.See Larry Diamond, Developing Democracy: TowardConsolidation (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1999), 65.Lucian W. Pye, Asian Power and Politics (Cambridge:Belknap, 1985); Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash ofCivilizations and the Remaking of World Order (NewYork: Simon and Schuster, 1996).The original paper was published in “Authoritarian Nostalgia in Asia”Journal of Democracy 18. 3 (2007): 66-80.