Some fledging democracies in the world have encountered setbacks due to political parties trying to grapple with the expectations of sophisticated electorates and introducing gradual political reforms over the years.

This book describes how democracy is evolving in East Asia and how it assumes different forms in different countries, with political parties adapting and evolving alongside. It has a two-fold intent. First, it contends that the existing variety of party systems in East Asia will endure and may even flourish, rather than converge as liberal democracies. Second, it highlights the seeming political durability of one party systems — unlike two-part or multi-party systems in the US and Europe — and their enduring predominance in countries such as Cambodia, China, Singapore and Vietnam.

The collection of papers in this volume arose from a joint conference held between the East Asian institute of the National University of Singapore and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in August 2009.