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The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Democracy

Democratisation and political reform in the Asia-Pacific: Is there an 'Asian model' of institutional design? (pdf 236K)

One of the little-noticed consequences of the democratisation of the Asia-Pacific has been reforms to key political institutions such as electoral systems, political parties, and parliaments.

In this discussion paper Dr Benjamin Reilly argues that, across the region, these reforms have been motivated by common aims of increasing government stability, reducing political fragmentation, and limiting the potential for ethnic politics.

As a result, similar strategies of institutional design are evident in areas such as the increasing prevalence of 'mixed-member majoritarian' electoral systems, attempts to develop aggregative political party systems, and constraints upon the formation of small, ethnic or regional parties. I argue that these political reforms have increasingly converged on an identifiable "Asian model" of institutional design.

 

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