‘Asian values’ and human rights Paul Bacon SILS, Waseda University PH201

Human rights and ‘Asian values’ This lecture summarizes an article entitled ‘What's Happened to Asian Values?’, by Anthony Milner. This article is an important contribution to the debate on ‘Asian values’. If you want to read the whole article, you can find it on the Wordpress site, under Topic Eleven.

The ‘Asian values’ argument Mahathir bin Mohamad and Lee Kuan Yew were particularly vocal advocates of Asian values. They were prime ministers of Malaysia and Singapore, respectively, in the 1990s. The main claims of the Asian values argument are as follows: A set of values is shared by people of many different nationalities and ethnicities living in East Asia. ('Asian values' are usually associated solely with East and Southeast Asia in this debate). These values include: a stress on the community rather than the individual the privileging of order and harmony over personal freedom

The ‘Asian values’ argument refusal to compartmentalize religion away from other spheres of life a belief that government and business and government can and should work together a particular emphasis on saving and thriftiness an insistence on hard work a respect for political leadership an emphasis on family loyalty

Asian values and Asian economics In seeking to understand the economic success of certain Asian societies, credit must be given to the role of these 'Asian values'. It is not appropriate to analyze Asian economic success in culture-free economic terms. It is not appropriate to characterize Asian economic success as a result of the adoption of specifically Western values.

Asian values and Asian politics Modern political systems in Asian societies should be grounded in the specific Asian cultures in which they are to be situated. It is not acceptable to reform or criticize Asian societies solely on the basis of liberal-democratic forms developed in Western societies.

The West: in decline and in decay? Proponents of Asian values believe that a major international shift is underway, involving the rise of 'the East' and the fall of 'the West'. Samuel Huntington also offers this argument in ‘The Clash of Civilizations’. Proponents of Asian values are critical of certain Western values and behavior patterns.

The West: in decline and in decay? Western values place too much emphasis on the individual rather than the community. Western societies lack social discipline, and there is too much tolerance of eccentricity and abnormality in social behavior. The suggestion is sometimes made that Western countries would do well to learn from 'Asian values‘, rather than the other way around.

Social Decay in the West Proponents of Asian values have argued that the West is experiencing social decay. Evidence of this decay includes: 1. Increases in antisocial behavior, such as crime, drug use, and general violence in society. 2. The breakdown of family life, including increased divorce rates, increased illegitimacy, a rise in the number of teenage pregnancies, and a growth in the number of single-parent families.

Social Decay in the West 3. A decline in ‘social capital’ - a decline in membership of voluntary associations and in the levels of interpersonal and civic trust that go with such memberships. 4. A general weakening of the ‘work ethic’. 5. The rise of a cult of personal indulgence and hedonism. 6. A decrease in societal commitment to learning and to intellectual activity.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument The Asian values argument is premised on the economic success of Asian countries. The economies of a number of Southeast Asian and East Asian countries collapsed in the 1990s. This gave a significant boost to the 'anti-Asian values' case.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument Proponents of Asian values suggest that a set of 'Asian values' operate throughout the Asian region. But critics argue that there are long-standing religious (Islamic, Buddhist, Confucian), political and other divisions in the region. Huntington, for example, argues that Asia contains five different civilizations. A major modernizing social and cultural transformation has also been underway in Asia, especially in the last decade or so.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument Cultures are contingent; they are reconstructed, constructed or invented to serve the specific purposes of their inventors. 'Asian values', it is argued, are the ideological constructs of Asian leaderships rather than the genuinely-held beliefs of their subjects. There is disagreement within the Asian region about 'Asian values' - NGO's and some political leaders, have been powerful advocates of 'universal', liberal values. The Japanese public intellectual Inoue Tatsuo referred to the Asian Values argument as a form of ‘reverse Orientalism’.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument The Asian values argument provides an excuse for an illiberal form of government. Some politicians and countries cloak their autocratic strategies and methods in arguments of cultural exceptionalism. The role in social and economic analysis of 'Asian values', 'Western values' or 'culture' in general is to be questioned. Economic change may in fact be seen to be the result of other, deeper processes, according to modernization theory.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument The ideology of 'Asian values' is radically conservative. It serves the needs of capitalism at a particular stage of its development in specific Asian societies. It is an ideology that 'combines organic statism with market economies'. The economic success of Singapore is an exception to the general rule that modernization leads to democratization. It is not an example of a wider phenomenon.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument Many so-called 'Asian values' are equally Western values. In some cases these values have been deliberately inculcated in Asian societies as a consequence of the influence on Asian elites of Western models. The role of the writings of the popular philosopher, Samuel Smiles, in developing the philosophy of 'hard work' and 'self-help' in Japan and a number of other Asian societies over the last century, is an excellent example of such influence.

Criticisms of the Asian values argument As a unifying ideological system in the Asian region, the doctrine of 'Asian values', like the idea of 'Asia' itself, has proved of little use. ASEAN, despite the apparent growth in enthusiasm for the idea of 'Asia', is a relatively weak international association incapable of real executive action. Various other Asian regional governance initiatives have also made little headway.

6 arguments about democracy: Democracies have better human rights records than non-democracies. Democracies have higher living standards than non-democracies. Democracies are more economically productive than non-democracies. Democracies do not fight wars against each other. Democracies do not experience famines. Democracies do not commit democide.