This book is a study of the attitudes to political and social life among the citizens of eighteen countries in Western Europe, East and Southeast Asia. Drawing on data from the largest cross-national survey on political culture for the last half a century, this book assesses how political culture differs across the two regions and whether this can be drawn back to a profound difference in basic societal values, or ‘Asian values’. Examining geographical, religious and socio-economic factors, the authors discuss whether there genuinely is a common political value in the two regions or a profound difference as these countries move towards modernity.

This original and comprehensive study of the values, norms and beliefs held by citizens of the East and West will appeal to students and scholars of political culture and comparative politics, as well as Asian and European politics.

Elena Block is Sessional Lecturer in Political Communication & Public Affairs at The University of Queensland’s School of Political Science and International Studies, and tutor in Mass Media and Society and Mass Media, Spin and Public Opinion at The University of Queensland’s School of Communication and Arts. Her main areas of interest are: political communication as a field and as a practice; the mediatisation of politics; populism; political culture; identity politics; communicational government; political leadership; social media and the development of pseudo-voice.