There are two fundamental
ideas in modern democracies that seem to contradict each other, while both being so fundamental that none could be severely restricted without burying the concept of a capitalistic democracy.
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.