Democratization and electoral reform in the asia-pacific region: Is there an "asian model" of democracy?

Benjamin Reilly*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    59 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    During the past two decades, numerous Asia-Pacific states have made transitions to democracy founded on basic political liberties and freely contested elections. A little-noticed consequence of this process has been strikingly congruent reforms to key political institutions such as electoral systems, political parties, and parliaments. Across the region, these reforms have been motivated by common aims of promoting government stability, reducing political fragmentation, and limiting the potential for new entrants to the party system. As a result, similar strategies of institutional design are evident in the increasing prevalence of "mixed-member majoritarian" electoral systems, new political party laws favoring the development of aggregative party systems, and constraints on the enfranchisement of regional or ethnic minorities. Comparing the outcomes of these reforms with those of other world regions, there appears to be an increasing convergence on an identifiable "Asian model" of electoral democracy.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1350-1371
    Number of pages22
    JournalComparative Political Studies
    Volume40
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 2007

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