Citizens, Democracy, and Markets Around the Pacific Rim: Congruence Theory and Political Culture

by Doh Chull Shin, Russell J. Dalton (Editor)

Overview

East Asia is one of the most dynamic areas of political change in the world today-what role do citizens play in these processes of change? Drawing upon a unique set of coordinated public opinion surveys conducted by the World Values Survey, this book provides a dramatically new image of the political cultures of East Asia. Most East Asian citizens have strong democratic aspirations, even in still autocratic nations. Most East Asians support liberal market reforms, even in nations where state socialism has been dominant. The books findings thus provide a new perspective on the political values of Asian publics. We demonstrate that the dramatic socioeconomic changes of the past several decades have transformed public opinion, altering many of the social norms traditionally identified with Asian values, and creating public support for further political and economic modernization of the region. Political culture in East Asia is not an impediment to change, but creates the potential for even greater democratization and marketization. Comparative Politics is a series for students and teachers of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. The General Editors are Max Kaase, Professor of Political Science, Vice President and Dean, School of Humanities and Social Science, International University Bremen, Germany; and Kenneth Newton, Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Southampton. The series is produced in association with the European Consortium for Political Research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191516375
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	11/02/2006
Series:	Comparative Politics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

RUSSELL J. DALTON is Professor in the Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of California, Irvine. He has been a Fulbright Professor at the University of Mannheim, a German Marshall Research Fellow and a POSCO Fellow at the East/West Center. His scholarly interests include comparative political behavior, political parties, social movements, and empirical democratic theory. His recent publications include Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices (Oxford 2003), Citizen Politics (CQ Press 2006), and The Green Rainbow (Yale 1994); he coauthored Critical Masses (MIT Press 1999); and is editor of Democracy Transformed? (Oxford 2003) and Parties without Partisans (Oxford 2001).