THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF ASIA

Timothy J. Lomperis
- Core Western Concepts:
1. Democracy
2. Freedom
3. Equality
- Political theory is rich in Asia
- it has a heavy RELIGIOUS CONTENT
- these Asian ideas are heavily fertilized by their Western colonial legacy
- 3 Contextual/Chronological Waves to the Development of Asian Political Thought:
1. Classical/Traditional Asia
2. Colonial Asia
3. Modern Asia
- Twin Pillars of Asia: India & China
3
Contextual/Chronological CLASSICAL ASIA
COLONIAL ASIA
Waves to the Development of
Asian Political Thought:
Definition/Information
- Asia provided an arena for all of - conquests of Western Imperialism
the worlds value systems
- Japan, Korea, Chinese, & Thailand:
- Value Systems:
escaped direct rule, but were still
a. Hinduism
pulled into a global political &
> the oldest Asian value system
economic system dominated by
> emerged as a religion & political Western imperial powers
culture of conquest
- Western imposition & superiority
b. Buddhism
> gentler political ideas, gentler
faith
>obliterated by Muslim invaders
who oscillated
2 Approaches:
1) Exterminate opposition &

MODERN ASIA

- WWII allowed Asia to freely find

itself & define politics
- mix of Traditional & Colonial
- Asias postwar trajectory of
Growing Economic Prosperity &
Rising Global Political Influence
- after WWII: Asia wanted to regain
its importance in the world

India

Enforce Islam
2) Cooperate w/ local power
groups & Rule
by
accommodation
c. Islam
- became more moderate & diffuse
in its ideas & beliefs
d. Confucianism
-developed in China
- Order among: Society, Nature, &
the Cosmos
- dual forces: Yin & Yang
- propunded a rigidly hierarchical
order
e. Taoism/Daoism
introduced
the
Idea
of
Reciprocity
- Mencius: politicized the Role of
the Emperor by entrusting him the:
> Mandate of Heaven
> Mandate of Reciprocity
- Mencius gave the people the
Right of Revolution
- Romance of Protest
- Sage Knights (as Robin Hoods)
- Modern Secularism not successful
in India
- Religion represents a complete
value system

1) British Empire
- crown jewel of the British Empire
- Lord Macaulay (Brit Viceroy)
partially successful in creating a
class of individuals who are:
> Indian in blood & color

- Indian continent plagued by

serious differences both as to how
to attain an independent India &
what it would look like
- 2 figures: Jawaharlal Nehru &
Mahatma Gandhi

> English in taste, opinion,

morals, & intellect
these were called Brown Sahibs
- British invested a Modern
University System for India
- Bengali Intellectual, Rabindranath
Tagore
2) Christian Missionaries
- Christian missionaries soon took
over India
- they preached & practiced their
Gospel w/ Institutions of Social
Reform
set
up
schools,
hospitals,
orphanages,
widow
homes,
leprosariums, peasant farms, social
services
- Brahmo Samaj: launched own
special Gospel of Reform of some of
the ills & neglects of Hinduism
3) Muslim
- Indias last rulers
- Sir Sayeed Khan et. al articulated
the path of accommodation w/ the
British
insist that Islam had no
objections Western political culture
Islam as a natural ally, unlike the
polytheistic Hinduism
Mohammed
Iqbal:
poet,
theologian, political theorist who

1. Jawaharlal Nehru
> 1st prime minister of India
> argued that Colonialism drained
the wealth & energies of Asia
> highlight moments of unity &
power, & gloss over divisions &
wars
> it is best for India lay unity
around a universal emperor
> believed that Unity only comes
from a secular India united by
Western Liberal Democracy
> Congress Party founded
> embraced British Socialism &
Russian Bolsheviks 5-year plan
2. Mahatma Gandhi
> moral father of modern India
> 3 themes: Poverty, Unity,
Independence
- India in pursuit of wealth

China

gave voice to a separate destiny

for Muslims
- Religion never died in China
- Tienanmen Square (Beijing): an
- Religion stayed on top, fusing architectural declaration that it was
Society & Politics to the sanctity, a gateway to heaven
sanctions, & political protection of British
gunboats
shattered
the gods
Tiananmen
- Taiping Rebellion: proclaimed new
portal; preached about Equality for
Women, Democracy
- Qing Dynasty: Chinas last
dynasty; made reforms
- Western Education replaced
classical texts for Civil Service
Examinations
introducing
Constitutional
Democracy,
Parliamentary
Elections,
modern
railroads,
military academies
- 1911 Protests & Reforms
Nationalist Revolution (40 chaotic
years)
- May Fourth Movement
- Chinese intellectuals sought for
Modern Power (during Japanese
dem&s for Sh&ong Peninsula)
through:
> Pragmatism & Liberalism of John
Dewey (& the Americans)
> Militarism from Germany & Japan
> Language Reform & Mass

- major figures:
1. Sun Yat Sen
> 3 Peoples Principles:
a) Livelihood - theme: Land to the
Tiller
b) Peoples Rule transition to
Constitutional Democracy (New life
Movement + Blue Shirt discipline)
c) Peoples Nationalism
>
uphold
Chinas
traditional
mandate of heaven
> his ideology failed in China but
was the basis for Taiwans & S.
Koreas economic prosperity
2. Hu Shih liberals failure
> embraced linguistic reform &
American-style democracy
>
was
discredited
by
Pres.
Woodrow Wilson at the Treaty of
Versailles
3. Communists/Communism
> ultimate victors of Civil War
> Guomindang political party
> articulation of modern China
> form of government came from
Lenin
4. Mao Zedong:
> Peoples War as strategy of
revolution; introduced innovative

Japan

Yamato
Clan:
proclaimed
themselves as gods
- the Yamatos have provided Japan
w/ the longest single line of kings in
world history
- they also provided Japan w/ a
Sense of Nationalism & Ethnic
Identity
- looked at Confucianism &
Buddhism to order their state &
meaning system
- indigenous Shinto beliefs
- Bushido: Knightly code
- Samurai: warrior-rulerknights

Southeast Asia

- where great kingdoms arose

- borrowed Hindu ideas
Kingdom
of
Ten
Thous&
Elephants: Laos, Indonesia
- Khmer Empire: Cambodia

Education
> Physical Culture & Emancipation
of Women
> Assassinations & communes of
anarchism
> Communism of Marx
> Bolshevism from Russia
- visited by Commodore Perry
- mature feudal order stagnated
Samurais
undergirded
an
aristocracy, holding the Emperor
hostage
- Meiji Restoration: Aristocratic
Modernizers
overthrew
the
Samurai-dominated regime
- Meiji Constitution: established a
Liberal Parliamentary System in the
name of the Emperor
- Japanese modernized through a
military path of war w/ China first
(1985), then Russia (1905)
- manifestations of Modern Power
- continued to hold Samurai values
- Meiji Liberalism nurtured by
Education
- honor in the name of the Emperor
- after WWI, peasants protest due
to the collapse of a traditional
social & political order (that used to
safeguard
their
livelihoods
&
provide a sense of place &

political projects
5. Deng Xiao Ping
>
architect
of
Chinas
unprecedented economic growth
> re-introduced a pragmatism of
Machiavelli + A. Smith
- defeated in WWII
- was under foreign occupation
- new Japanese constitution, Art. IX:
outlawed war as an instrument of
foreign policy & forbade the
country to have anything but a
minimal Self-Defense Force as a
military institution
- Yoshida Doctrine: Japan as a
sovereign state; placed its security
in the hands of US; dedicated
energies
towards
economic
prosperity
- many grew restive under this
arrangement

- Modernization accompanied by
outbursts of Indigenous Violence
(Indonesia)
- Insurgencies present in: Burma,
Thailand,
Philippines,
Malaya,

- Angkor Wat: largest religious

building complex
- political institutions were mostly
Indian
- Vietnam: has Chinese influences
- societies were ethnically Malay, &
were held together by Customs
(Customary Adat)
- 3 Social Classes: (accdg. to
Customs)
a. Ruling Aristocracy
b. Free l& holders
c. Slaves
- these are all bounded by a
network of mutual obligations &
responsibilities
- Adat: Property & Authority could
be held & passed from women as
from men
- Muslims came to Southeast Asia &
imposed their Sultanate System on
Malaya & Indonesia
Others

security))
- after the accomodation w/
Western power & political instis,
peasants & intellectuals cast their
own terms of Modern Survival
Cao
Dai
sect
(Vietnam):
worshipped an all-seeing cosmic
eye (supreme entity
- Peasant Protests grew out of
frustrations over their devotion to a
Traditional Order that no longer
deserved their respect

European Imperialism
- observed that despite Asias
political
weaknesses,
it
still
possessed sophisticated & wellarticulated cultures
- Orientalists: coined Pearls of the
Orient
- Effect of Orientalism: dismiss
political thought in Asia as being

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

- US intervened in Malaya &
Vietnam
- each country sought to define its
own modern National Identity,
attempting to fashion integrative
polities that could overcome
separatist groups & ideologies
fueling the insurgencies
ASEAN:
their
organization
representing
counterpoise
in
international relations

too closely
constructions

Conclusion:
-Asian Distinctiveness regarding
modern conceptions of Democracy,
Freedom, & Equality
- Constitutions of many Asian
states (India & Japan) bear the
imprint of Western ideas and
institutions
- definition of Asia: fundamental
difference between Asia and West
over the Balance Individual &
Family
- Asian countries: family & its ties
to the state & its loyalties come
before the freedom to chart
individual destinies
- West: individuals are encouraged
to cut loose from family ties to
freely chart their individual lives
- different definitional relationship
of
Freedom
&
Equality
to
Democracy

DEMOCRACY in Asia
Statecraft & Political Authority
- problems or issues focused on:
Creating Order & Preserving Social
Hierarchy
- Statecraft & Political Authority
best served by Reciprocity &
Legitimizing of actions to earn
Public Approval & Support
- Lucian Pye: Democracy in Asia
arising out of its historical context
under Paternal Authority & its
Politics of Dependence.

tied

to

religious

FREEDOM in Asia
- until the insertion of Western
politics & ideas, Freedom in Asia
did not lie in politics
- defined in 3 ways:
a. Freedom is more of a Group
Concept than an individual one
i.e. India individuals more
communal
responsibilities
to
autonomous little communities
b. Freedom for the individual boils
down to Relative Degrees of
Autonomy from the multi-layered
obligations
of
these
allencompassing social structures
i.e Asian knights & warriors had
the freedom of the battlefield & of
strategy,
but
only
w/in
the
parameters of their larger duties to
the Heavenly Mandate
India high caste widows has
the freedom of avoiding dejected

EQUALITY in Asia
- Asian societies retain an even
more profound
rootedness
in
Hierarchy
i.e. India Gandhi call the
untouchables
as
Harijans
(Children of God), but still
supported the Caste system
China old Confucian hierarchy
Japan Samurai ritual &
hierarchical obligations
- Equality in Asia EQUITY (more
room for social ladders/hierarchy
in a formulation of fairness and
justice)

- Lee Kwan Yew: Democracy in

Asia must still be subordinate to
family discipline
- political thought has developed
almost exclusively around Western
political experience
- Democracy, Freedom, & Equality
achieve richer meaning & nuance
when
analyzed
comparatively
through their evolution in Asian
cultures

status of widowhood or the

humiliation of re-marriage by
committing suttee
c. Freedom in Asia is Religious
i.e. China Buddhism offered
release or nirvana from the world &
its politics
Daoism cultivated a freedom of
the
souldw/in
the
external
responsibilities
&
rituals
of
Confucianism
India householder could free to
the forest and seek moksha (the
release
that
comes
from
enlightenment)