POLI 369 Lecture 12: Poli 369 Lecture 12
15 Dec 2015
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10/22/2015: asian values, lee kuan yew, mahathir. Pr cis question: are asian values real, or are they a fa ade for justifying authoritarianism? (cid:1) (cid:1) reasons: Debate began b/w human rights and asian values in 1990s for several. Gov"t efforts to address past human rights violations in authoritarian regimes. Burma and china: unsuccessful democratic movements, people felt that human rights need to be pressed more. Cross discourse against human rights came out of southeast asia focus on asian values . Kuan yew (singapore: came largely from muhammad mahathir (malaysia) and lee, critical of western human rights positions, both had helped develop advanced industrializing economies. Felt it gave them legitimacy: want to argue that universal human rights are not applicable in non-western countries: position is ethno-centric (cid:1) Difference in priorities is rooted in culture: asian societies have a. Confucianist root, very different from western culture: confucianism emphasizes respect of elders, respect of authority, hierarchy, family as a unit.
