"Asian Democracy"? The Impact of Confucian Values on the Legitimacy of Western Liberal Conceptions of Democracy in North and Southeast Asia

The insight that the Western liberal conception of democracy is not shared universally raises the question whether citizens "beyond the West" actually support the principles behind this conception. Taking up the debate about the compatibility of Confucianism and liberal democracy, this contribution hence analyses the empirical relationship between traditional Confucian and liberal democratic value orientations for the East Asian context. Based on representative survey data for 13 political systems in North and Southeast Asia (Asian Barometer Survey, 2010-2012) it is shown that Confucian values, especially the primacy of hierarchy, and liberal democratic values, especially the principle of power sharing, appear largely incompatible in the eyes of citizens.