A key exploration of political legitimacy in East Asian societies undertaken by normative political theorists and empirical political scientists.

1. Political legitimacy in East Asia: bridging normative and empirical analysis Melissa S. Williams, Joseph Chan and Doh Chull Shin; 2. Reasons to obey: 'multiple modernities' and constructions of political legitimacy Melissa S. Williams; 3. Do East Asian states enjoy a legitimacy premium? Bruce Gilley; 4. Political legitimacy in China: a Confucian approach Daniel A. Bell; 5. Political legitimacy in Hong Kong: a hybrid notion Wai-man Lam; 6. The evolution of political legitimacy in Singapore: electoral institutions, governmental performance, moral authority, and meritocracy Kenneth Paul Tan and Benjamin Wong; 7. Polarized politics, government legitimacy and democratic legitimacy in Taiwan Min-Hua Huang; 8. The legitimacy of democratic rule in Korea: from the perspective of the mass citizenry Doh Chull Shin and Youngho Cho; 9. Political legitimacy, satisfaction, and Japanese democracy Benjamin Nyblade; 10. Legitimacy as a hybrid phenomenon Leigh Jenco.