Events

Jointly organized by Department of Political Science, Centre on Asia and Globalisation, and Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

CHAIRPERSON

Assoc Prof Jamie S. Davidson, Asia Research Institute, and Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT

Over the past century, Asia has been transformed by rapid economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization—a spectacular record of development that has turned one of the world’s poorest regions into one of its richest. Yet Asia’s record of democratization has been much more uneven, despite the global correlation between development and democracy. Why have some Asian countries become more democratic as they have grown richer, while others—most notably China—haven’t? In From Development to Democracy, Dan Slater and Joseph Wong offer a sweeping and original answer to this crucial question.

Slater and Wong demonstrate that Asia defies the conventional expectation that authoritarian regimes concede democratization only as a last resort, during times of weakness. Instead, Asian dictators have pursued democratic reforms as a proactive strategy to revitalize their power from a position of strength. Of central importance is whether authoritarians are confident of victory and stability. In Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan these factors fostered democracy through strength, while democratic experiments in Indonesia, Thailand, and Myanmar were less successful and more reversible. At the same time, resistance to democratic reforms has proven intractable in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Reconsidering China’s 1989 crackdown, Slater and Wong argue that it was the action of a regime too weak to concede, not too strong to fail, and they explain why China can allow democracy without inviting instability.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dan Slater is Weiser Professor of Emerging Democracies in the Department of Political Science and Director of the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies at the University of Michigan. His books include Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia.

Joseph Wong is Roz and Ralph Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. His books include Healthy Democracies: Welfare Politics in Taiwan and South Korea.

REGISTRATION

Registration is closed. Please write to aritm@nus.edu.sg if you would like to attend the seminar.