East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy

Bridging the Empirical-Normative Divide

Joseph Chan, Doh Chull Shin, Melissa S. Williams

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781107134423
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108110556
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Comparative Law
• Index: Law

What makes a government legitimate? Why do people voluntarily comply with laws, even when no one is watching? The idea of political legitimacy captures the fact that people obey when they think governments' actions accord with valid principles. For some, what matters most is the government's performance on security and the economy. For others, only a government that follows democratic principles can be legitimate. Political legitimacy is therefore a two-sided reality that scholars studying the acceptance of governments need to take into account. The diversity and backgrounds of East Asian nations provides a particular challenge when trying to determine the level of political legitimacy of individual governments. This book brings together both political philosophers and political scientists to examine the distinctive forms of political legitimacy that exist in contemporary East Asia. It is essential reading for all academic researchers of East Asian government, politics and comparative politics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Preface and Acknowledgments
• 1 Political Legitimacy in East Asia: Bridging Normative and Empirical Analysis
• 2 Reasons to Obey: “Multiple Modernities” and Constructions of Political Legitimacy
• 3 Do East Asian States Enjoy a Legitimacy Premium?
• 4 Political Legitimacy in China: A Confucian Approach
• 5 Political Legitimacy in Hong Kong: A Hybrid Notion
• 6 The Evolution of Political Legitimacy in Singapore: Electoral Institutions, Governmental Performance, Moral Authority, and Meritocracy
• 7 Polarized Politics, Government Legitimacy, and Democratic Legitimacy in Taiwan
• 8 The Legitimacy of Democratic Rule in Korea: From the Perspective of the Mass Citizenry
• 9 Political Legitimacy, Satisfaction, and Japanese Democracy
• 10 Legitimacy as a Hybrid Phenomenon
• Index