Sources of regime legitimacy in Confucian societies

In this article, we examine the on-going debate over the legitimacy of the East Asia regime through a rigorous analysis of a recent Asian Barometer Survey data from 13 countries and territories. First, we compare the relative explanatory power of the elements ordained by Confucian political theory with that of the elements emphasized by the Western liberal tradition in explaining differences in level of regime support across different types of regimes. Next, we compare Confucian societies with non-Confucian societies to see if the Confucian propositions about regime characteristics and performances abode even better in societies that inherited Confucian cultural legacy. Third, we examine how traditional political–cultural predispositions interact with perceived regime characteristics and performances to affect respondents’ support for their country’s current regime. We found that the social and historical relevance of Confucian political theory is not limited to Confucian societies. Much like Communitarian theory, Confucian political theory presents a credible challenge (as well as an alternative) to Western liberal tradition in a much wider socio-cultural space beyond Confucian societies.