Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 July 2014
Most new democracies face a challenge of reshaping the political culture to support the new democratic political order. This can often be a long-term process, complicated by the Realpolitik of governing in a new political (and often economic) system. One of the mechanisms of cultural change is generational change. New generations socialized after a democratic transition are presumably educated into the political norms of the new democratic regime. However, one can also imagine that the young lack clear political cues because they grow up under a system in transition, or even reject the new order if it is accompanied by widespread social dislocation. The study of generational change in new democracies thus provides insights into the processes transforming a nation's political culture. We analyze generational change in the new democracies of East Asia using the Second Wave of the East Asian Barometer. We examine support for a democratic/authoritarian regime and the citizenship norms that underlie a democratic process (such as the rule of law and political tolerance). Our results yield evidence of significant generational change in regime norms in these new democracies, which suggests that the political culture is gradually being transformed.
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the conference on ‘Generations and Democracy’ at University of Cape Town, South Africa, December 17, 2012. Our thanks to Yun-han Chu, David Denemark, Robert Mattes, Richard Niemi, Robert Rohrschneider and the journal reviewers for their advice in the development of this research. We thank the Asian Barometer organization and the principal investigators of the various national surveys for access to these data. Additional information on the project is available from the project website: www.asianbarometer.org.