Government and Politics in Northeast Asia:
Day 1 - Democratic Transition and Multi-party Competition in Northeast Asia
Jaemin Shim (Post-doctral Research Fellow, GIGA)
18th Sep 2018
Korea
1. Hankyoreh: http://english.hani.co.kr/kisa/section-014000000/home01.html
2. Kyunghyang http://english.khan.co.kr/
3. Kinds: http://www.kinds.or.kr/
Japan
1. Japan Times: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/
2. The Asahi Shimbun: http://www.asahi.com/ajw/
3. Japan Today: https://japantoday.com/
4. Mainichi Shinbun: https://mainichi.jp/english/
Taiwan
1. Taipei Times: http://www.taipeitimes.com/
2. China Post: https://chinapost.nownews.com/
3. Taiwan News Online: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/
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II. Comparative Approach to East Asian Politics
South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan: Similarities and differences?
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Colonial Legacy
Welfare Legacy
Confucian
Culture
Economic
Growth
Socio-
demographic
Transitions
Developmental
State
Other Political
Institutions
Major firms:
small or big?
Religion?
II. Comparative Approach to East Asian Politics
Rule 1: choose relevant factors related to what you want to explain!
Page 4
Foods?
People’s
temperament?
Rel
ax
ed
?
Short-
temper
ed?
Page 5
Basic examples of comparative methods
Rule 2: comparing cases shouldn’t be completely identical nor different!
Method of agreement (based on most different cases) / Method of difference
(based on most similar cases)
Accident
(Y)
Drunk
driving
(X1)
Car entering
from Right-
hand
direction
(X2)
Driver
Speeding
(X3)
Runs a Red
light (X4)
Case A Yes Yes Yes No no
Case B Yes no Yes Yes Yes
Accident
(Y)
Drunk
driving
(X1)
Car entering
from Right-
hand
direction
(X2)
Driver
Speeding
(X3)
Runs a Red
light (X4)
Case A Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Case B No Yes No No Yes
II. Comparative Politics and Comparative Methods
South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan
Rule 3: Think about external factors affecting cause and outcome!
Spurious (there is a common cause)
Example: NYC ice cream sale → Crime rate; Economic development → Democratic transition
Temperature increase; International aid
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II. Comparative Approach to East Asian Politics
South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan
Rule 4: Don’t over-generalize!
Selection-Bias: : Relationship between Level of Labor Repression (X) and Growth in GNP
per capita (Y), (Geddes, 1999)
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Global Comparison of Democracies, Polity IV scores
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Before the early 1990s..
 Similarities
- One-party dominance until the late 1980s/early 1990s
- Repression of labor, male-bread winner model, weak civil society
- Elite bureaucrats-driven policy making
- Anti-communist orientation..
 Differences
- Different levels of democracy: Japan > Korea > Taiwan
- Different beginning: particularly with regards to foreign intervention…
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Different Levels of Democracy….
 How to measure it?
- Simple one: direct election to citizens or not?
- More complicated:
1) measuring freedom of association
2) free and fair elections
3) freedom of expression
4) elected officials
5) Universal suffrage
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Authoritarianism, Democratic Transition, and Democratic
Consolidation (Varieties of Democracy indicators)
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Authoritarian period: from 1948 to 1987 (Korea) and from 1949 to 1992 (Taiwan)
Difference? No election allowed in Taiwan.. Elections allowed in South Korea….
Differences at the beginning
- Japan
: Japan was an empire state until 1945…
A) American occupation from 1945 to1952…
- Tokyo Trial (1946)… Japan maintained its monarchy
- e.g. Japanese calendar 2019 is year Heisei 31
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Differences at the beginning
B) With the exception of Okinawa (until 1972)
- Okinawa was an interdependent
Kingdom until 1879.. (mixture of
Southeast Asian, Chinese, and
Japanese culture)
- A similar story can be told…
- Until 1893….
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Differences at the beginning
- Taiwan (Japan’s colony from 1890 to 1945 and then….
A) Émigré regime… KMT vs. Communist party in mainland.. Fled in 1949
B) Taiwanese calendar
2019 is year 107? Why?
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Differences at the beginning
- Korea (colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945)
A) American trusteeship until 1948 (North and South separate
governments)
- Originally one country (previous kingdom: Joseon Dynasty 1392-1910)
- Yalta Declaration (Feb 1945)
B) Korean War in 1950…. (invaded by North Korea)
III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
III. Multi-party Competition and Political Institutions
Key Dividing Lines in Politics…
Varieties of Political Cleavages….
- Urban VS Rural
- Labour VS Capital
- Post-material values based on LGBT, Environment,
gender issues VS traditional values
- Democratic VS authoritarian
- Globalist VS Nationalist
- Etc.. Ethnic, linguistic, racial, and others…
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III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Political cleavages in East Asia?
No political cleavage? new democracies lack structure (Mair, 1997; Bertoa, 2014), and
parties are known for making little effort to establish clear party identifications, resulting in
incoherent ideological dividing lines...
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III. Democratization and Multi-party Competition
Political cleavages in East Asia?
Cleavage formation: primordial view (natural representatives of people who share
common interests.. bottom up), instrumental view (role played by political elites and
entrepreneurs)
Korea, Japan, and Taiwan: foreign policy issues plays an important role in politics and
tend to be elites-driven
Korea: diplomatic and military stance towards North Korea or the US
Japan: preserving/reserving peace constitution and military alliance with the
US
Taiwan: diplomatic and military stance towards mainland China
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End of the Presentation
Jaemin Shim (Post-doctral Research Fellow, GIGA)
18th Sep 2018