Progress of the Asian Tigers

Taiwan and South Korea are proving a lot of relieved political scientists right.

It has long been an article of faith among international economists and political analysts that the booming Asian Tigers would gradually become more democratic as prosperity and rising education levels created more informed, confident electorates.

That now seems to be happening in Taiwan, where voters proved their independence in the election just completed. And it is at the root of the national soul-searching now under way in South Korea as the leaders who came to power in and after a military coup in 1980 are called to account. We trust the democratization of East Asia will not stop there.