event

Democracy Is More Difficult Than Physics

Wed. November 19th, 2014
Washington, DC

Emerging democracies are periodically vulnerable to legitimacy crises by the expansion of popular participation. The recent book Incomplete Democracy in the Asia-Pacific: Evidence from Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand explores the nature of public opinion and the process of day-to-day participation that has made the electoral democracies of Indonesia, South Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand vulnerable to repeated crises. 

Giovanna Dore and Karl D. Jackson presented the main findings of their book and discuss the lack of public demand for good governance that enables continued elite control of these Asian democracies. Vikram Nehru moderated. 

Giovanna Dore

Giovanna Dore is a fellow in the Asian Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies where she focuses on international development and Asian emerging markets.

Karl D. Jackson

Karl D. Jackson is director of the Asian Studies Program and the C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Vikram Nehru

Vikram Nehru is a senior associate in Carnegie’s Asia Program where he focuses on the economic, political, and strategic issues confronting Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.

Political ReformDemocracyEconomyEast AsiaSouth KoreaSoutheast AsiaIndonesia
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Giovanna Dore

Giovanna Dore is a fellow in the Asian Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies where she focuses on international development and Asian emerging markets.

Karl Jackson

Karl D. Jackson is director of the Asian Studies Program and the C.V. Starr Distinguished Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Vikram Nehru

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program

Nehru was a nonresident senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program. An expert on development economics, growth, poverty reduction, debt sustainability, governance, and the performance and prospects of East Asia, his research focuses on the economic, political, and strategic issues confronting Asia, particularly Southeast Asia.