Global Asia

With key elections taking place across a wide swath of the world’s democracies in 2024, a nagging question continues to stalk these perennial political exercises: How fragile, or solid, are these democracies in a world where authoritarian models of governance are increasingly asserting themselves? Asia figures prominently in this debate, not just because it is home to two of the world’s largest democracies — India and Indonesia — but also because it includes China, the leading global advocate of an alternative to the liberal international order led by the United States. 

But the question isn’t only whether a democracy is fragile or strong, but whether in periods when it is put under extreme stress from external or internal factors, it is resilient enough to respond in ways that preserve that system of governance — or in some cases, emerge from crisis even stronger. 

In the cover package of this issue of Global Asia, we explore the issue of democratic resilience in Asia. To begin with, we examine what makes some countries more susceptible to democratic backsliding than others and why some are inherently more resistant and adaptable. To be sure, this is an emerging area of study, so conclusions are necessarily tentative and subject to further inquiry. We also examine the state of democracy in a range of Asian countries, looking at the interplay of common challenges and the factors that appear to be specific to individual countries.

The essays in this cover package have their origin in a research project, “Beating Backsliding? Recession, Resilience and Resurgence of Democracy in Contemporary Asia,” which is directed by Aurel Croissant at Heidelberg University and Ewha Womans University in South Korea, with generous support from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the Korea Foundation. 

In our Features section, we tackle a range of topics: the elections in Pakistan that saw the re-emergence of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a political kingmaker in turbulent times; how state governments in India are exerting growing influence over the country’s foreign policy; the rising threat posed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and whether the region and the world should be worried about increased risks of war; the prospects for Indonesia after its recent election, with an incoming president who has a checkered past and a well-known temper; and the meaning of the warming ties between Vietnam and the US. 

Our In Focus section looks at Taiwan after its recent elections and how the results could affect cross-strait relations, and what Taiwan and Ukraine could learn from each other.

As always, our Book Reviews section serves up a tantalizing array of titles on or relevant for Asia, including both long and short reviews. 

We are also pleased to take this opportunity to announce that Kim Taehwan, who recently retired as a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, has been appointed as Associate Managing Editor of Global Asia. We would like to express our deep gratitude to John Delury, Professor of Chinese Studies at Yonsei University’s Graduate School of International Studies, who previously served as Associate Managing Editor. He will remain with us as a Regional Editor. 

Sincerely yours, 

Chung-in Moon 

Editor-in-Chief 

David Plott 

Managing Editor