Lessons from East Asian Cases on Democratization, National Identity, and Foreign Policy

Introduction

The history of East Asian democratization has been cast in terms of negative Confucian heritage, postwar US encouragement to allies, and the positive spillover of economic “miracles.” Focused on national identities distinct from Confucian heritage and nuanced in coverage of the impact of the United States, the following four articles direct attention at forces, positive and negati..

Gilbert Rozman
December 20,2018

China’s Political Trajectory and Foreign Relations under the Influence of National Identity

Since Xi Jinping formally ascended to power in 2013, China has been flaunting its superior “China Model” to the rest of the world more actively than ever before. The official media have published numerous articles with such eye-catching titles as “Establishing the Chinese Coordinates for Democratic Politics,”1 “China Is the Real Biggest Democratic Country in the W..

Yinan He
"Belt and Road" Initiative , anti-Manchuism , Charm offensive , China Model , hard authoritarianism , Hate America Campaign
December 20,2018

Analyzing the Relationship between Identity and Democratization in Taiwan and Hong Kong in the Shadow of China

After 160 years of non-democratic colonial rule by the British, Hong Kong became part of China in 1997 under a mini-constitution, the Basic Law, that guaranteed a number of democratic civic values and pledged eventual universal suffrage for both the executive and the legislature. Since the handover, there have been protest movements demanding fulfillment of those pledges, led primarily by you..

Syaru Shirley Lin
"Belt and Road" Initiative , China Dream , One China policy , One Country Two Systems , United Front
December 20,2018

Democracy is More than a Political System: Lessons from South Korea’s Democratic Transformation

An assessment of South Korea’s democratization requires acknowledging juxtaposing patterns. On the one hand, the shadow of an authoritarian, Cold War state hangs over the country’s politics. State-society relations constructed under deeply illiberal circumstances did not disappear with the transition to democracy. On the other hand, developments in 2016-17 proved that South Korea&r..

Erik Mobrand
April Revolution , Candlelight Movement , Conservative democratization , De-authoritarianization , Kwangju Uprising , National Security Law
December 20,2018

National Identity and Democracy: Lessons from the Case of Japan

The relationship between national identity and democracy is a complicated one. National identity provides a foundation for democratic politics in at least two senses. First, the spread of national identity can prepare the ground for democracy in the sense that nationalism breaks the elite’s monopoly on politics and transforms the masses into participants in the political process. Nation..

Tadashi Anno
Asianism , Imperial restoration , Meiji Constitution , peace diplomacy , Taisho democracy