The Asian Values Debate

Comparison Essay # 104855

Asian Studies > East Asian Cultures
Political Science > Non-U.S.

Looks at Asian values as they apply in the debate of political freedom vs. political power.

2,025 words () | 6 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that at the center of the Asian values debate is the contention by its proponents that the cultural and social fabric of many of East Asia's and Southeast Asia's societies are radically different than many of those found in the West and therefore cannot support the Western values and ideologies founded upon liberal democracy and human rights. The paper then points out that the alternative Asian paradigm envisions a benign but autocratic type of government, which makes decisions based on the collective good as a way to promote social harmony, such as Communist China. The paper then describes Asian values and how they apply to issues of freedom and power.

Table of Contents:
Overview
What are Asian Values?
The Politicization of Values
Political Freedom or Power

From the Paper:

"The inverse argument to the Asian values debate is that while many might concede that there is a legitimate rationale to this viewpoint, it in no way substantiates the claim that liberal democracy's ideals are somehow invalid. Mahbubanin tends to argue that Asian values are not only a sound alternative but a legitimate moral philosophy that in certain respects is less strident that liberal democracy and even more rational in some cases when he observes that the free press in most liberal democracies is in fact not such a free press after all"

Sample of Sources Used:

Barr, M. 2000. Lee Kuan Yew and the "Asian Values" Debate. Asian Studies Review, 24/3, pp.309-334.
Donnelly, J. 2002. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. Cornell University Press; New York.
Hepeng, J. (2004). The Three Represents Campaign: Reform the Party or Indoctrinate the Capitalists?. The Cato Journal, 24(3), 261+.
Mahbubanin, K. 2005. Can Asians Think? The West and the Rest, An Asian Perspective on Human Rights and the Freedom of the Press. Marshall Cavendish; Singapore.
Sani, M. A. (2005). Media Freedom in Malaysia. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 35(3), 341+.