The Uneven Growth of Democratic Legitimacy in East Asia

Abstract

The consolidation of a democracy requires ‘broad and deep legitimation, such that all significant political actors, at both the elite and mass levels, believe that the democratic regime is the most right and appropriate for their society, better than any other realistic alternative they can imagine’ (Diamond, 1999, p. 65). An assessment of the extent of normative commitment to democracy among the public at large can tell us much about how far the political system has really traveled toward democratic consolidation (Chu, Diamond, & Shin, 2001). A robust popular base of legitimation entails both widespread and strongly felt attachment to a democratic regime and dwindling support for non-democratic alternatives. These two dimensions of popular commitment to democratic legitimacy are conceptually different and empirically distinguishable (Rose, Mishler, & Haerpfer, 1998; Shin & Wells, 2005). To this end, we seek to answer three empirical questions: To what extent do citizens in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong support democracy as a system of government as measured by overtly favorable orientations toward democracy? How many people in these countries still consider authoritarian arrangements as desirable alternatives? Do attachment to democracy and detachment from authoritarianism reinforce each other, yielding a coherent attitudinal foundation for sustainable democracy? To answer these questions, this paper uses the first-wave East Asia Barometer (EAB) survey data, which consist of responses collected through face-to-face interviews of randomly selected eligible voters in these countries and territories. Before presenting the empirical findings, a succinct overview of the regional political trends in the context of the ‘third wave’ of democratization is called for.