Introduction / Ian Marsh -- Political culture and democratic consolidation / Richard Sinnott -- Parties and party systems / Jean Blondel -- The national executives / Jean Blondel -- Bureaucratic performance, policy capacity, and administrative reform / Martin Painter -- Economic governance and global engagement : independent and dependent linkage / Ian Marsh -- Regionalism and state capacity / John Ravenhill -- Has the Japanese model ceased to be a magnet in Asia? / Takashi Inoguchi -- The "Asian values" debate / Jean Blondel -- Democratisation, regionalism, and state capacity in east and southeast Asia / Ian Marsh