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.
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Russell J Dalton is Research Professor at the Center for the Study of Democracy at UC Irvine. His research focuses on the role of citizens in the democratic process, involving the topics of political culture, electoral politics, and political representation. Dalton’s most recent books include The Good Citizen (2020), Political Realignment—Economics, Culture and Electoral Change (2018), The Participation Gap (2017), and The Civic Culture Transformed (2015). He has received a Fulbright Professorship at the University of Mannheim, a Barbra Streisand Center Fellowship, German Marshall Research Fellowship, and a POSCO Fellowship at the East/West Center.
Doh Chull Shin holds the Korea Foundation chair of political science at the University of Missouri, and is the founder of the Korea Barometer project and a co-founder of the Asian Barometer project. For the past two decades, he has conducted comparative research on the democratization of authoritarian politics and cultures in East Asia and other regions. He has also engaged in public opinion research on the quality of life in East Asia.
Chung-Si Ahn is Professor at Seoul National University.
Ken'ichi Ikeda is Professor of Social Psychology, The University of Tokyo.
Ronald Inglehart is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He helped found the Eurobarometer surveys, and is coordinator of the World Values Surveys (WVS). Currently, he is directing a new Laboratory for Comparative Social Research at the Higher School of Economics in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Jiho Jang is Professor in the Department of Public Administration at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, Korea.
Thụy Như Ngọc Ông is a political scientist and Editor-in-Chief of Việt Tide. She has co-authored academic articles in Journal of Vietnamese Studies, Japanese Journal of Political Science, and chapters in books published by Oxford University Press (England), IFA (Germany), and Edwin Mellen Press (U.S.).
Pham Minh Hac is Vice-Minister for the Institute of Human Studies, Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam
Pham Thanh Nghi is Professor at the Institute of Psychology, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Tan Ern Ser is Associate Professor, Department of Sociology; Academic Convener, Singapore Studies, and Chair, Social Science and Policy Cluster, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; Academic Adviser, IPS Social Lab; and Deputy Chair, General Education Committee, at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Zhengxu Wang is Professor at the Department of Political Science, Fudan University.
Christian Welzel is Professor of Research of Political Culture at the Institute of Political Science and head of the Center for the Study of Democracy at Leuphana University.
