Economic Performance, Trust, and Partisanship in Asia's Democratizing Nations : Effects on Government Approval and Democratic Support

How does economic performance and partisanship affect government approval and democratic support in democratizing Asia? Much of extant examination has skirted Asia. This paper extends the study of the effects of economic performance to Asia's democratizing nations of Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and the Philippines. Four results are relevant: First, economic performance is important for government approval in the Asian democratizing nations: current national economic performance consistently explains approval across the nations and over time. Second, economic performance is not consistently relevant in explaining democratic support. This finding shows that democratization is insulated from economic pressures. Third, political trust is important to government approval and democratic support, and reconciles mixed results in extant studies. They clarify that political trust accentuates economic accountability in terms of government performance – as found in extant studies – but insulates the democratic system from the immediate pressures of performance – as confirmed in current scholarship findings. Fourth, partisanship does not explain government approval or democratic support. This finding may underscore the lapse in grassroots and organizational development in Asia's democratizing nations. In conjunction, the results sound a cautionary note on continued party fragmentation for democratizing Asia-Pacific