Globalization is a defining feature of our times, covering everything from economic and political issues to the spread of American culture. Its status is controversial, however with some viewing it as leading to greater development for all, while others see it as a threat to national cultures and democratic political life. This book shows how simplified such binary views are, and examines how various globalizing forces have affected Asian societies. It discusses the relationship between globalization, identity and democratic developments in Asia both theoretically and empirically, and aims to understand how economic, political and social forces interact and are mutually reinforced in Asian societies.

It may be tempting to view political development and democratization in East Asia from a global view and conclude that the contours of democracy will converge throughout the world. However, a close examination of the cultural and economic development of Asian societies suggests a contrary picture. The story of Asia is one of political and economic survival, in which political elites sought to legitimate their authority through the use of both traditional and modern symbols. Traditional communitarian values and the modern symbols of economic growth and materialism coexist in Asian political systems. The stability and legitimacy of Asian governments depend on the ability of political elites to balance these symbols. As globalization proceeds, the standard traditional and modern symbols have waned in their effectiveness. Therefore, democracy as a symbol and practice can provide new sources of legitimacy to these political systems. Compton's Asian political development model is tested with quantitative indicators and through a series of case studies. The three case studies—Japan, South Korea, and Thailand—build on each other through a rigorous historical comparison. While the case studies themselves are interesting, he makes connections to the model and tests the congruence of these cases to the model, and concludes that the model's validity is predicated on the internal environment, including culture and economy. Of particular interest to scholars, students, and researchers involved with comparative and Asian politics, political development, and political culture.

This book compares and contrasts leadership in Japan, South Korea and China, examining the impact of globalization on leadership styles and trends. Presenting some of the most recent findings in leadership studies in these three countries, the collection explores the power relationship between political and business leaders; employer-employee relationships and pro-social behaviour; the measurement of effective leadership; the relationship between leadership and corporate success; the survival of private firms in a tightly controlled or socialist market; and the evolution of leadership styles in the transition from state-owned to semi-private. Although many studies have offered explanations of East Asian economic and corporate success, this book presents empirical evidence to explain the leadership styles in Japan, South Korea and China, and provides a fresh outlook for those studying business and leadership in the region. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Asia Pacific Business Review.

The foreign policies of presidents, prime ministers and their foreign secretaries can be influenced by the preferences of domestic and international nongovernmental actors, as well as those of other governments. Representative democracy, media power, citizen activism and the globalization of politics and telecommunications, for example, have accelerated changes in the sharing of power. This book focuses on the Philippines and Japan where, willingly and unwillingly, foreign policy executives share power with individuals and groups inside and outside of government bureaucracies and their societies. The book retells the foreign policy narratives of regional cooperation, military relations and official development assistance (foreign aid), revealing how executive foreign policy makers and civil society organizations share power - and succeed or fail - in a globalizing, democratizing world. A variety of published, unpublished and declassified sources provide journalists, scholars, government practitioners and global citizens with a sophisticated understanding of the domestic politics of foreign policy making, as well as its intergovernmental and transnational side.

This new collection of essays compares the development of central institutions of governance in the emerging democracies of East and South East Asia. Seven key countries are covered: Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Save for Singapore and Malaysia, all have democratized over the past decade. Because of its constitutive implications for citizen identities, democratization is arguably of even greater potential significance than the economic take-off that preceded it. But there are distinctive features that give the experience of these seven states especial relevance. First, unlike analogous western patterns, democratic transitions in Asia have been top-down in character. Second, the implementation of basic democratic forms was highly compressed in time. Third there were (and are), in most countries, no major ideological or programmatic cleavages. Thus the bases around which contending political forces might organize are not immediately clear. This may affect the outlook for partisanship and mobilization. There has been no synoptic, comparative study of these developments on a region-wide scale. This book fills the gap extremely well.

Written by a team of international experts in the field, the chapters in this book question whether, and how NGOs actually lead to democratization, and discuss the ways NGOs relate to broader global forces.