Anyone interested in populism in East Asia will quickly realize that the academic discourse on the topic is as enlightening as it is confusing. The relatively few scholars who are active in this field have produced a conceptually and empirically diverse body of literature. In some of it the sheer existence of populism is contested as are its key components and consequently its definition. The phenomena labelled as Japanese, South Korean or Taiwanese manifestations of populism include a very diverse group of political actors, making it difficult to identify a common conceptual ground.

One finding most scholars agree upon, however, is that the case of East Asian democracies is almost non-existent in comparative efforts of the international political science community. Lead by Frédéric Krumbein (Tel Aviv), Hannes Mosler (IN-EAST) and Axel Klein (IN-EAST), this joint project sets out to close this glaring gap in populism studies. “Populism in East Asian Democracies” (PinEAD) takes an explicitly comparative approach to the study of the political systems of Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to understand the form and shape populism takes in these countries.

The 7th lecture in the Lecture Series and International Research Colloquium
of the Institute of East Asian Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen will be provided by Ken Hijino, Professor at Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University.

More information about the virtual lecture series:
https://www.uni-due.de/in-east/research/joint_research_projects.php .

Please register by Zoom:
https://uni-due.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUrcOCopzMuG9Jf7bD7J2xMTwnL76NkTlrn