Giving Compass' Take:

· John Lee at the Hudson Institute challenges the idea that autocracies achieve better results in their economies, standards of living, and social stability and explains why Japan and South Korea should be in the lead during the charge for democracy in Asia.

· Should the US be involved in spreading democracy to Asia? How can activists advocate for greater citizen participation in governance in Asia? 

· Learn how civic engagement can help shape the foundation for democracy.

Twenty-one years ago, US president Bill Clinton stood alongside his counterpart Jiang Zemin at a press conference and brazenly told his guest that when it came to political reform and respect for human rights, China was “on the wrong side of history”.

From the mid-1970s to the early 90s, more than 30 countries became democracies. In 1989, the Chinese Communist Party barely survived an existential political crisis when protests involving millions erupted throughout the country. The Soviet Union fell two years later.

Democratic transitions in South Korea and Taiwan provided a glimpse of what was possible.

Optimism for political reform is not extinguished but has since subsided. More serious is the prospect that democrats have lost, if not their conviction, then their fight. When China’s Xi Jinping up-ended 40 years of prudence and abolished presidential term limits, it was largely received with resignation. The corruption of democracy in Cambodia and Myanmar is met with disappointment but not surprise. More time and column inches are expended on excoriating the democratically elected Donald Trump than genuine autocrats in our region.

Read the full article about the charge for democracy in Asia by John Lee at the Hudson Institute.