Democracy is More Difficult than Physics: Evidence from Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand

Co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies

Why have Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand proven so recurrently vulnerable to political crises? In their new volume, Incomplete Democracy in the Asia-Pacific, Giovanna Dore, Jae Ku, and Karl Jackson cite the relative absence of participation between elections, the continued influence of traditional social structures, the incomplete emergence of civil society organizations, public opinions of democracy and authoritarian rule, and the persisting weaknesses of political parties. Their book shows how mass attitudes and behaviors enable continued elite control of these electoral democracies, and conclude that although there are substantial differences between them, the chronic problem of democracy in Asia has been the lack of mobilized public demand for good governance.

Karl D. Jackson directs Asian Studies at SAIS and heads its Southeast Asia Studies Program. He has served as the national security advisor to the US vice president, special assistant to the US president, senior director for Asia on the National Security Council, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and the Pacific, and senior advisor to the president of the World Bank. He was a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley (1972–1991). His degrees are from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) and Princeton University (BA).

Giovanna Maria Dora Dore is a fellow in the Asian Studies Program at SAIS. For over a decade, as a political economist in the World Bank Group, she has focused on economic change and institutional development in Asia. She has a PhD in Political Economy and Southeast Asia Studies and an MA from SAIS and a Laurea Magistralis in Philosophy and Contemporary History from the Catholic University of Milan.

Jae H. Ku directs the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS. He has taught courses at SAIS, Brown University, and Yonsei University, and Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul. He has a PhD from SAIS, an MSc from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA from Harvard University.