The Emergence of East Asia Constitutionalism: Features in Comparison

Wen-Chen Chang, National Taiwan University, College of Law
Jiunn-Rong Yeh, National Taiwan University

Abstract

Vibrant constitutional democracies have taken hold in East Asian soil. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan came to mind as successful examples. Scant attention, however, has been placed upon ways that constitutionalism has been brought into being and developed into distinctive forms in East Asia. This paper seeks to analyze in a descriptively way constitutional developments in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. By reading the three cases together, this paper discerns a number of common features shared by the three constitutional developments, which include instrumental constitutional state building, textual and institutional continuity, reactive judicial review and a wide range of rights in tune with social and political progresses. It contends further that these features developed in East Asian constitutionalism do not merely mirror standard (western) constitutionalism nor are under shadow of Asian Values or merely in tandem with transitional constitutionalism. The full blossom of East Asian constitutionalism has shed a new light on contemporary constitutionalism and moved itself from periphery to the center of comparative constitutional studies.