Seminar on "New Democracy in the New Normal Era" Held at the Hu Fu Center for East Asia Democratic Studies
A seminar on "New Democracy in the New Normal Era" was held at the Hu Fu Center for East Asia Democratic Studies February 18. The seminar featured paper presentations from scholars affiliated to the Center and a delegation of Korean scholars led by Wonbin Cho of Sungkyunkwan University.
Training for the Wave 5 Myanmar Survey Held in Yangon between February 14–17
Fieldwork training for the Wave 5 Myanmar Survey was held in Yangon between February 14–17. The training was delivered by Alex Chang of Academia Sinica, Kai-ping Huang of National Taiwan University, and Seng Keat Tan of the Merdeka Research Center.
Memorial Service Held for Professor Hu Fu
On December 1, upon the 90th anniversary of his birthday, a memorial service was held at National Taiwan University to pay special tribute to Professor Hu Fu, co-founder of Asian Barometer Survey and a leading scholar of political science in Taiwan. To commemorate Professor Hu's lifelong contribution and accomplishments, the Center for East Asia Democratic Studies was officially renamed as the Hu Fu Center for East Asia Democratic Studies.
Global Barometer Meeting Held in Bangalore
A Global Barometer Survey (GBS) Group Meeting was held in Bangalore between January 19-21, 2019. The meeting finalized the common questionnaire for Wave 3 of the GBS and discussed progress on Wave 3 of the South Asian Barometer Survey. Participants also discussed plans for a new report highlighting the main findings of the GBS.
GBS Conference Held at United Arab Emirates University between February 4–6, 2018.
A GBS Conference on “Popular Evaluation of Well-Being in the Arab World, East Asia, South East Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America” was held at the United Arab Emirates University between February 4-6, 2018. The conference was co-organized by the Center for East Asia Democratic Studies, National Taiwan University, and United Arab Emirates University.
Asian Barometer Survey (ABS) Wave 5 Planning Meeting Held at National Taiwan University between July 6-8, 2017
A planning meeting for Wave 5 of the ABS was held at the College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University between July 6-8, 2017.
How do Asians View a Rising China?
China is already seen as the most influential power in Asia by a wide margin over the United States, yet most Asians prefer the United States, Japan, or Singapore as a model for development. Despite sovereignty disputes in the South China Sea, citizens in Southeast Asia generally view the influence of China on their own country in relatively favorable terms. Unsurprisingly, given their respective histories, citizens in Japan and Vietnam are least likely to view the influence of China in favorable terms.
Authoritarian Nostalgia in Asia
Many citizens in East Asia remain nostalgic about their authoritarian past. Despite two decades of democratic development in Mongolia, more than 60% of respondents support getting rid of parliament in favor of rule by a strong leader. Around one-third of respondents in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand express the same view. Significant numbers of respondents across the region also support army rule, most notably in Thailand, where support for army rule has climbed dramatically following the May 2014 coup.
How do East Asians Understand Democracy?
In the chart below, we show proportions of respondents who understand democracy in terms of good governance (red), social equality (orange), norms and procedures (blue), and freedom and liberty (green). Although the essential characteristics of a democracy center around principles and procedures in the classical Western view of democracy, East Asians tend to understand the meaning of democracy in terms of substantial outcomes. In all countries except Cambodia, over 50% of respondents interpret democracy as meaning either good governance or social equality.
Governance-Based Legitimacy in East Asia
In this paper, the authors argue that perceived quality of governance is the key to explaining why non-democracies in East Asia have garnered greater political legitimacy than democracies in terms of the general public’s support. Based on the data collected by the fourth-wave Asian Barometer Surveys that was conducted in 14 East Asian countries during 2015 and 2016, the authors present empirical evidence to corroborate the argument that East Asians develop governance-based legitimacy by the quality of governance, of which non-democracies outperform democracies.
What's New
2019-06-20[Lecture] [July 10] Asia, Trump and Trade.
2019-05-08[公告] 誠專案助研究員1名 (in Chinese)
2019-04-30Panel Discussion on “Is Democracy in Crisis?” at the Asan Plenum 2019 on April 23-24, 2019.
2019-03-25[Lecture] The Democratic Boom-Bust Cycle in the Philippines.
Links
Key Findings
Key Research Findings from the Asian Barometer Survey.
Data Release
Data for all fourteen countries and territories covered by the Fourth Wave of the Asian Barometer Survey are now available.
Online Analysis
Visitors can subscribe to the ASEP/JDS Data Bank and do interactive online analysis.
Introduction
The Center for East Asia Democratic Studies is major undertaking in international political science research......
