Pathways of western liberal constitutional development in Asia: a comparative study of five major nations

Abstract

This article traces the pathways of constitutional development in five major Asian nations-India, China, Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. It considers whether constitutionalism in its Western form may be regarded as having universal appeal and application far beyond the Western nations in which it originated, and whether it may be argued that there exists a distinctly Asian form of constitutionalism or of political-constitutional practices. Adopting a macrohistorical and comparative perspective on developments in these five nations, from the late nineteenth century up to the present, the article demonstrates that constitutionalism has significantly broadened and deepened its reach in Asia in modern and contemporary times. It also suggests that no distinctly Asian mode of constitutionalism or of political-constitutional practices can be identified. Nor is there evidence that Asian culture and values are particularly resistant to constitutionalism. On the contrary, there is evidence that whether constitutionalism eventually triumphs in a particular jurisdiction is determined more by politics and the contingency of historical events, such as wars and foreign interventions, than by culture and values. © The Author 2010. Oxford University Press and New York University School of Law. All rights reserved.