Democracy and Diversity Political Engineering in the Asia-Pacific

Is there an Asia-Pacific model of democracy? Over the past two decades, more than a dozen Asian and Pacific states have made the transition to democratic rule. But many of these states are also ethnically, linguistically, and regionally diverse, creating real challenges for effective government. This book explains how the Asia-Pacific's political reformers responded to the twin challenges of democracy and diversity through ambitious and often innovative political engineering. Far-reaching reforms to electoral, parliamentary, and party systems have seen the emergence of a distinctive regional model of democracy. Benjamin Reilly analyses this new approach to the design of political institutions, and its consequences for democratic governance in the Asia-Pacific and other world regions. Oxford Studies in Democratization is a series for scholars and students of comparative politics and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on the comparative study of the democratization process that accompanied the decline and termination of the cold war. The geographical focus of the series is primarily Latin America, the Caribbean, Southern and Eastern Europe, and relevant experiences in Africa and Asia. The series editor is Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.

Benjamin Reilly is Director, Centre for Democratic Institutions, Crawford School of Economics and Government, Australian National University.