Stable Support for Democracy in East and Southeast Asia? Examining Citizens’ Trust in Democratic Institutions

Abstract Recent democratic regressions and crises suggest democracy is at risk across East Southeast Asia. One of the factors that can determine stability are citizens’ attitudes. While previous research has concentrated on support for democracy-in-principle, this contribution argues it political trust, i.e. democracy-in-practice, which crucial stability. For democracies to be stable, trust should high as well rooted in long-term like liberal value orientations or social protect from short-term fluctuations following economic scandals. This therefore examines not only current levels development but also whether influenced more by (liberal orientations, trust) (economic performance evaluations, incumbent support). The empirical analysis shows five Asian (Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea, Taiwan) mostly mediocre primarily dependent evaluations support. Among democracies, citizens Japan appear most resilient regressions; other hand, Taiwanese seems least equipped master future crises.