Liberalism, Democracy and Development

This book examines the claim that developing countries should aspire to the Western model of liberal democracy for good governance and economic success. It argues that these successful developing nations have enjoyed the economic and social liberties necessary to encourage economic development, without adopting the institutions and values of the West.

Many commentators have assumed a close connection between liberal democracy and economic development. In this book, Sylvia Chan questions this assumption and suggests a new theoretical framework, in which liberal democracy is 'decomposed' into economic, civil and political dimensions that can be combined in different ways, allowing for a range of 'institutional matrices'. She then shows, in a case study of Japan and the Asian newly industrialising countries, how these seemingly less democratic countries have enjoyed a unique mix of economic, civil and political liberties which have encouraged economic development, without the need to share the institutional structures and cultural values of the West. Chan's model therefore provides a re-evaluation of the institutional capacities needed to sustain a competitive economy in a globalising world, and develops a more sophisticated understanding of the democracy-development connection.