Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:43:50.496Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democracy with Asian Characteristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 December 2015

Mark R. Thompson
Get access

Abstract

In the last three decades, a number of Asian thinkers supportive of, or opposed to, authoritarian rule have developed culture-based theories of democracy that challenge, or buttress, a liberal, “Western” understanding of democratic rule. The most famous expression was the “Asian values” discourse of government-linked intellectuals in Singapore and Malaysia, but there has also been a “political Confucianist” critique of “Western democracy” in China as well as claims that only “Thai-style democracy” is appropriate in Thailand. Less well known is a pro-democratic stance in Asia rooted in the region's major religious traditions. These apparently contradictory discourses have been dialectically related in the post–Cold War era: authoritarian rulers reacted to universalist claims about democracy with assertions of cultural particularism which, in turn, triggered a reaction by Asian democrats who pointed to the liberal character of world religions practiced in the region. While the civilizational critique of “Western” democracy (the origins of which can be traced to Imperial Germany and Meiji Japan) has contributed to democratic decline in the region, there has also been push back by offering an interpretation based on East Asia's major religious traditions to show that “Asian values” are not incompatible with democracy.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 74 , Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 875 - 887
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Ibrahim, Anwar. 1996. The Asian Renaissance. Singapore: Times Books International.Google Scholar
Kyi, Aung San Suu. 1991. Freedom from Fear. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Kyi, Aung San Suu. 1995. “Human Rights and Asia's Fear of Disorder.” New Perspectives Quarterly (Winter):52–53.Google Scholar
Barr, Michael D. 2000. “Lee Kuan Yew and the ‘Asian Values’ Debate.” Asian Studies Review 24(3):309–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, Daniel A. 2010. China's New Confucianism: Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Berger, Mark T. 2004. The Battle for Asia: From Decolonization to Globalization. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloomberg. 2015. “China's Love of Lee's ‘Singapore Model’ Ran Deep for Decades.” March 23. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-23/china-s-love-of-lee-s-singapore-model-ran-deep-for-decades (accessed June 12, 2015).Google Scholar
Carr, Michael. 1994. “Yamato-Damashii ‘Japanese Spirit’ Definitions.” International Journal of Lexicography 7(4):279–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chairat Charoensin-o-larn. 2013. “Thailand in 2012: A Year of Truth, Reconciliation, and Continued Divide.” Southeast Asian Affairs:285–304.Google Scholar
Connors, Michael K. 2008. “Article of Faith: The Failure of Royal Liberalism in Thailand.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 38(1):143–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connors, Michael K. 2012. “Asian Values Redux? The International Politics of Rights, Democracy and Culture.” In The New Global Politics of the Asia Pacific, eds. Connors, Michael K., Davison, Rémy, and Dosch, Jörn, 248–66. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Davis, Bret W. 2014. “The Kyoto School.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Zalta, Edward N.. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2014/entries/kyoto-school (accessed January 14, 2015).Google Scholar
Diamond, Larry. 2015. “Facing Up to the Democratic Recession.” Journal of Democracy 26(1):141–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Economist. 1992. “Competitive Order.” February 15.Google Scholar
Elias, Norbert. 1997. The Civilizing Process: The History of Manners and State Formation and Civilization. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Emmerson, Donald K. 1995. “Singapore and the ‘Asian Values’ Debate.” Journal of Democracy 6(4):95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmerson, Donald K. 2013. “Kishore's World.” Journal of Democracy 24(3):166–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fan, Ruiping. 2012. The Renaissance of Confucianism in Contemporary China. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Ferrara, Federico. 2015. The Political Development of Modern Thailand. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harootunian, Harry. 2002. Overcome by Modernity: History, Culture, and Community in Interwar Japan. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hefner, Robert W. 2000. Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Heisig, James W. 2001. Philosophers of Nothingness: An Essay on the Kyoto School. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.Google Scholar
Herf, Jeffrey. 1984. Reactionary Modernism: Technology, Culture, and Politics in Weimar and the Third Reich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hewison, Kevin, and Kengkij, Kitirianglarp. 2010. “‘Thai-Style Democracy’: The Royalist Struggle for Thailand's Politics.” In Saying the Unsayable: Monarchy and Democracy in Thailand, eds. Ivarsson, Søren and Isager, Lotte, 179–202. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.Google Scholar
Hoon, ChanYau. 2004. “Revisiting the Asian Values Argument Used by Asian Leaders and Its Validity.” Indonesian Quarterly 32(2):154–74.Google Scholar
Houtman, Gustaaf. 1999. Mental Culture in Burmese Crisis Politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa Monograph Series no. 33. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.Google Scholar
Ileto, Reynaldo C. 1985. “The Past in the Present Crisis.” In The Philippines after Marcos, eds. May, Ronald James and Nemenzo, Francisco, chap. 2. Sydney: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Andrew. 2011. “Confucius Statue Vanishes Near Tiananmen Square.” New York Times, April 22. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/world/asia/23confucius.html (accessed August 20, 2013).Google Scholar
Jarvis, Darryl S. L., and Carroll, Toby. 2014. “Neoliberalism in Asia under Late Capitalism: Risk, Capital and Contestation.” In The Politics of Marketising Asia, eds. Carroll, Toby and Jarvis, Darryl S. L., 1–23. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Jayasuriya, Kanishka. 1998. “‘Asian Values’ as Reactionary Modernism.” Contemporary Politics 4(1):77–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qing, Jiang. 2013. A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China's Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Order. Edited by Bell, Daniel and Fan, Ruping. Translated by Ryden, Edmund. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Chalmers. 1995. Japan: Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State. New York: W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Jung, Kim Dae. 1994. “Is Culture Destiny? The Myth of Asia's Anti-Democratic Values.” Foreign Affairs (November/December):189–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, Nick, and Heazle, Michael. 2011. Understanding Australia's Neighbours: An Introduction to East and Southeast Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhonta, Eric Martinez. 2008. “The Paradox of Thailand's 1997 ‘People's Constitution’: Be Careful What You Wish For.” Asian Survey 48(3):373–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lehmbruch, Gerhard. 2001. “The Institutional Embedding of Market Economies: The German ‘Model’ and Its Impact on Japan.” In The Origins of Nonliberal Capitalism: Germany and Japan in Comparison, eds. Streeck, Wolfgang and Yamamura, Kozo, 5–26. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Luqu, Li. 1997. “Lun Xinjiapo Renmin Xingdong dang dui minzhu shehui zhuyi de minzu zhuyi gaizao” [Singapore's People's Action Party's transformation from democratic socialism to nationalism]. Contemporary World and Socialism 4:40–44.Google Scholar
Hong, Liu and Tingyan, Wang. 2015. “Xi Jinping and the Singapore Model.” Paper to be presented at the 2015 Melbourne Conference on China, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, Melbourne University, August 21–22.Google Scholar
Martin, Bernd. 1995. Japan and Germany in the Modern World. Providence, R.I.: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
McCargo, Duncan. 2005. “Network Monarchy and Legitimacy Crises in Thailand.” Pacific Review 18(4):499–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, Barrington. 1966. Social Origins of Dictatorship: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Nation (Bangkok). 2013. “Call for ‘People's Government.’” November 26. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Call-for-peoples-government-30220589.html (accessed November 26, 2013).Google Scholar
Neher, Clark D. 1994. “Asian Style Democracy.” Asian Survey 34(11):949–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortmann, Stephan, and Thompson, Mark R.. 2014. “China's Obsession with Singapore: Learning Authoritarian Modernity.” Pacific Review 27(3):433–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pais, David. 2013. “Clinging to a Discredited Dogma.” Hindu, September 14. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/clinging-to-a-discredited-dogma/article5125330.ece (accessed October 1, 2013).Google Scholar
Qin, Pang. 2013. “State-Society Relations and Confucian Revivalism in Contemporary China.” PhD diss., City University of Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Huei, Peh Shing. 2009. “‘S'pore Fever’ Rages On in China.” Straits Times, June 24. http://wanderingchina.blogspot.com/2009/06/spore-fever-rages-on-in-china.html (accessed August 8, 2015).Google Scholar
Kongkirati, Prajak. 2012. “Thailand: The Cultural Politics of Student Resistance.” In Student Activism in Asia: Between Protest and Powerlessness, eds. Aspinall, Edward and Weiss, Meredith, 225–58. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Kongkirati, Prajak. 2015. “Coup for (No) Transition and the Consolidation of the Army's Semi-authoritarian Regime.” Paper presented at the Workshop on Current Political Developments in Thailand, Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong, May 26.Google Scholar
Pawakapan, Puangthong. 2014. “The Thai Junta's Interim Constitution: Towards an Anti-Electoral Democracy.” ISEAS Perspective 45.Google Scholar
Pyle, Kenneth. 1974. “Advantages of Followership: German Economics and Japanese Bureaucrats, 1890–1925.” Journal of Japanese Studies 1:127–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramcharan, Robin. 2002. Forging a Singaporean Statehood, 1965–1995: The Contribution of Japan. The Hague: Kluwer Law.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robison, Richard. 1996. “The Politics of ‘Asian Values.’” Pacific Review 9(3):321–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodan, Garry. 1996. “The Internationalization of Ideological Conflict: Asia's New Significance.” Pacific Review 9(3):328–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Achavanuntakul, Sarinee. 2013. “You Can't Suspend a Value Like Democracy.” Bangkok Post, December 23. http://www.bangkokpost.com/print/386210/ (accessed December 23, 2013).Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya. 1997. Human Rights and Asian Values. New York: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs.Google Scholar
Smith, Helmut Walser. 2008. “When the German Sonderweg Left Us.” German Studies Review 31(2):225–40.Google Scholar
Phatharathananunth, Somchai. 2006. Civil Society and Democratization: Social Movements in Northeast Thailand. Copenhagen: NIAS.Google Scholar
Teehankee, Julio C. 2007. “The Aftermath of the 1997 Crisis: From Asian Values to Asian Governance?” Paper presented at the conference “Ten Years after the Asian Crisis.” Siem Reap, Cambodia, April 20.Google Scholar
Chaloemtiarana, Thak. 2007. Thailand: The Politics of Despotic Paternalism. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Mark R. 2000. “The Survival of ‘Asian Values’ as ‘Zivilisationskritik.’” Theory and Society 29(5):651–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Mark R. 2001. “Whatever Happened to ‘Asian Values’?” Journal of Democracy 12(4):154–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Mark R. 2010. “Japan's German Path and Pacific Asia's Flying Geese.” Asian Journal of Social Science 38(5):697–715.Google Scholar
Thompson, Mark R. 2015. “Dead Idea (Still) Walking: The Legacy of the ‘Asian Democracy’ and ‘Asian Values’ Debate.” In Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Democratization in Southeast Asia, ed. Case, William C., 24–37. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Uhlin, Andreas. 1997. Indonesia and the ‘Third Wave of Democratization’: The Indonesian Pro-Democracy Movement in a Changing World. Richmond: Curzon.Google Scholar
Ji, Ungpakorn. 2007. A Coup for the Rich: Thailand's Political Crisis. Bangkok: Workers Democracy Publishers.Google Scholar
Vatikiotis, Michael. 1992. “The Mahathir Paradox.” Far Eastern Economic Review 155(33):16–18.Google Scholar
Williams, David. 2004. Defending Japan's Pacific War: The Kyoto School Philosophers and Post-White Power. London: RoutledgeCurzon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jianli, Zhang. 2006. Xinjiapo you shenme haoxue de [What we can learn from Singapore]. Beijing: Sinoculture Press.Google Scholar