Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-203) and index.

The Problem of Asian Democracy -- Introduction: Culture Reconsidered -- Culture as Framework -- Democratization, Political Parties, and the Asian Context -- Democratic Consolidation in a Cultural and Social Context: Moving Away from Preconceived Notions -- Summary: Different Forms of Democracy -- The Cultural Origins of Asian Democracy -- Between Reality and Modernization Theory -- Building Societies with Culture -- Cultural Theory in Social and Political Science -- The Realms of Culture -- Cultural Foundations of Asia -- Traditionalism and Confucianism as Asian Political Culture -- Modernization without Westernization -- The Developmental State, Political Elites, and Asian Democracy -- Development and Democracy -- The Meaning of Democracy -- Modernization and Asian Development through a Cultural Lens -- Elites and the Developmental Process -- The Developmental State -- Modernity and Traditional Culture: Ideology and Tools -- Statecraft and the Economic Components of Asian Political Development -- Asian Political Development Model and Empirical Evidence -- Culturally Constructed Asian Development Model -- The Asian Development Model Presented -- An Empirical Examination of the Asian Development Model -- Methods, Findings, and Discussion -- Asia vs. Liberal Democracy: Different Essence and Form? -- Japan and the Tale of Three Asian Societies -- Weaving the Case Studies Together -- Japan: Setting the Stage -- Creating the Developmental State: Tokugawa and Early Meiji Period -- Japan Rises: Imperialism and the Consolidation of the Bureaucratic-Authoritarian State -- Postwar Japan: Rising from the Ashes and Reconstructing Legitimacy -- The 1955 System: Legitimation Mechanisms Consolidated -- Political Decay? Advancement to the Third Stage -- South Korea: Imperfect Legitimation Leads to Democracy? -- South Korea: Dissonance of Cultural Construction and Imperfect Legitimation -- Korea before and during the Japanese Occupation -- South Korea from 1960 to 1979: Hard Authoritarianism Dominates -- Park: The Charismatic Leader and Cultural Construction -- Korea after Park: Democracy from the Ashes of the Developmental State? -- Thailand: Weak State but High Levels of Legitimacy -- Thailand and the Asian Development Model -- Thailand before Sarit: Establishing "Thainess" in Modernity -- Institutionalized Military Dominance under Sarit and Successors (1957-1973) -- From Authoritarianism Comes Semi-democracy and the "New Power Elite": 1973 to Present -- Conclusion: Cases and the Asian Development Model -- Crafting Asian Political Development: Looking at the Past to Predict the Future -- Theoretical Implications -- Toward Asian-Style Democracy or Liberal Democracy?.

Creates an Asian political development model to take into account cultural and historical perspectives.