The form
of argument in this presentation has emphasized several specific points: first, that the Asian
values argument, as a challenge to the implementation
of constitutional democracy, is
exaggerated and fails to account for the richness
of values discourse in the East Asian region - local
values do not provide a justification for harsh authoritarian practices; second, that the cultural prerequisites arguments fail because they ignore the discursive processes for
value development and they are tautological, excessively deterministic and ignore the importance
of human agency it, therefore, makes little sense to take an entry test for constitutional democracy; third, the difficulties
of importing Western communitarian
ideas into an East Asian authoritarian environment without adequate liberal constitutional safeguards; fourth, the positive role
of constitutionalism in constructing empowering conversations in modern democratic development and as a venue for
values discourse; fifth, the importance, especially in a cross-cultural context,
of indigenization
of constitutionalism through local institutional embodiment; and sixth, the
value of extending research focused on the positive engendering or enabling function
of constitutionalism to the developmental context in general and East Asia in particular.