I have now developed a framework of ‘liberal democracy’, and I have delineated the possible relations between economic development and liberal democracy. I have also explored the existing arguments pro and anti the democracy–development link and, first, unearthed elements of ‘security’, ‘stability’ and ‘openness and information’ in the purported positive democracy–development link, and, second, shown that the counter-arguments are often associated with an inadequate concept of the state and an incomplete explanation of the Asian success. I am now ready to use all these conceptual tools to reconstruct an explanation of the Asian experience.

In this chapter, I will show how Asian NICs have arrived at their economic success through a different institutional base that embodies a unique mix of ‘economic’, ‘civil’ and ‘political’ liberties, which produced in turn elements of ‘security’, ‘stability’ and ‘openness and information’ in a way that is distinctive. This explanation will, first, highlight the importance of a more ‘inclusionary’ institutionalism; second, discuss how these institutions have incorporated some elements of ‘liberal democracy’, such as a distinctive mixture of ‘economic’, ‘civil’ and ‘political’ liberties; and third, explain how these are connected to the variables we found in the ‘democracy-is-good-for-development’ arguments discussed in section 5.2: ‘security’, ‘stability’ and ‘openness and information’. We thereby arrive at a new conception of state strength in section 6.4, while section 6.5 provides a summary. This explanation of the Asian experience will allow us to understand the democracy–development link in a new way.