The Construction And Maintenance Of Legitimacy In Modern Asian Clan Politics

It has been nearly a hundred years since the Asian countries experienced modern anti-colonial and anti-feudal revolutions.However,the phenomenon of clan politics,bearing the imprint of pre-modern,is still active on the Asian political arena.This thesis starts with analysis of the four typical modern clan political countries:the Philippines,India,Japan and North Korea.Through the contextual analysis of the symbiotic mechanism of domestic political system and modern clan politics,this thesis studies the legitimacy construction and maintenance factors of modern clan politics in Asia.In general,the sources of modern clan political legitimacy in these four countries have common features,including path dependence and predatoryness of legitimacy,social faith in performance,absence of political middle class,familism tradition,etc.,which make almost all of Asia show the characteristics of modern clan politics;either country has its own distinct features,such as The Philippines'patronage system,India's caste system and religious atmosphere,Japanese media's dominant role towards mass opinion,unique social psychology and traditional family systems,North Korea's fanatical cult of personality and totalitarianism which all have created differences in the political development reality and future paths of various countries.