Divergent Experiences of Colonialism and Democratic State Development : Comparison of China to Its East Asian Neighbors

Abstract

It has been a conventional wisdom through Modernization Theory that should a state develop economically, democratization would come soon afterwards. Countries in East Asia like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are often enumerated as the empirical evidence to support Modernization Theory. Considering the similarities in various respects between China and its neighboring countries, China presents, however, an abnormal and deviant case in the debates of Modernization Theory in that it is modernizing without any characteristics of democratizing. What then is the reason for China’s defiance against democratization and westernization in the face of continued modernization? This study argues that the divergence of colonial legacies in the form of complete or partial occupation by foreign powers has led different paths in terms of the development in democratic system of governance in post-colonial states in East Asia. Unlike its East Asian neighbors, China’s colonial experiences are unique in the sense that it has never once been completely occupied by Western powers. China had given territorial concessions through treaties, yet it had never undergone a situation where foreign occupiers imposed their democratic institutions as a system of governance on China during occupations. Despite the fact that modernization has continued, it is expected that democratization and westernization will not likely to happen in China.