Democratization and Stability of Politics in East and Southeast Asian Countries

人们普遍认为，政治的民主化和稳定都是可取的。然而，他们的共存并不容易。我们的目的是澄清在东亚和东南亚地区各国实现政治民主与稳定共存的条件。在过去二十年中，该地区有几个国家成功地实现了民主化。来自该地区的六个国家（韩国、菲律宾、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、柬埔寨和泰国）进行了研究。这六个国家从2003年到2005年举行了全国选举。我们可以把因选举而加剧的政治紧张视为民主化的良好证据。为了进行区域比较，我们以爱沙尼亚为例，它是前苏联统治的国家中少有的成功民主化的例子。爱沙尼亚是一个很好的例子，表明体制设计对于民主和稳定的共存是多么重要。共和国领导人在开始社会主义政权民主化时剥夺了俄罗斯居民的公民权。虽然一开始受到了国际社会的批评，但由于歧视措施，俄罗斯人后来获得了公民权，并成功实现了民主化。在亚洲国家，往往很难在民主与稳定之间保持平衡。泰国在起草1997年宪法时强调稳定，结果出现了一个过于强势的国家领导人。罢免国家领导人的程序在菲律宾、韩国和印度尼西亚是一个热点问题。此外，民主程序的缺陷往往妨碍新闻民主的合法化和稳定。但是，我们看到亚洲国家出现了新型的国家领导人。他们依靠的是民粹主义措施，而不是制度，并享有强有力的领导。我们将对它们进行研究。

It is agreed widely that both democratization and stability of politics are desirable. However, their coexistence is not easy. Our aim is to clarify the conditions enabling political democracy and stability to coexist in countries in East and Southeast Asian regions.There are several countries in the regions that have succeeded in democratization in the last two decades. Six countries from the regions (South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Thailand) were studied. National elections were held from 2003 to 2005 in these six countries. We can regard rising political tension due to the elections as a good evidence of democratization. To draw a regional comparison, we take Estonia which is a rare case of successful democratization among the countries formerly dominated by the USSR.Estonia is a good example to show how important institutional design is for the coexistence of democracy and stability. Leaders of the republic deprived Russian residents of citizenship when they began to democratize the socialist regime. Although it evoked a great deal of criticism from the international society at first, the Russians were accorded citizenship later and the country succeeded in democratization due to the discriminative measures.In Asian countries, it is often difficult to hold the balance between democracy and stability. In Thailand, an emphasis was placed on stability in drafting the 1997 constitution, resulting in emergence of a too strong national leader. The procedure to dismiss national leaders was a hot issue in the Philippines, South Korea, and Indonesia. Moreover, deficiencies in democratic procedures often hamper legitimatization and stabilization of news democracies.However, we are observing a new type of national leaders in Asian countries. They rely on populist measures instead of institutions and enjoy strong leadership. We are to carry out a research into them.