Political Chaos and Stalemate in East Asia - Essay Example

Political Chaos and Stalemate in East Asia If one takes a close look at the history of development of the mankind, one can not help noticing that the world has changed dramatically with the advancement of technology in general and transportation in particular. Nowadays, it is absolutely realistic to talk about a globalized world, where people, ideas as well as commodities move freely. Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that different parts of the planet still retained their peculiarities. Thus, one can hardly dismiss the differences between the Western and the Eastern civilization. What is more important is that each of these civilizations can be broken down to smaller regions. This paper will analyze some of the political trends that occur in East and South East Asia, noting the peculiarities of some of the leading countries as well as those who are or used to be divided. The analysis will be carried out to speculate abut the future of traditional societies of the East. To begin with, it may be particularly important to dwell on the issue of the so called Asian values. Some people argue that the latter are responsible for the economic and political phenomena that can be witnessed at the present moment. It is suggested that the traditional society of the East has always favored a strong government that would be able to determine the future of the nation. This can be seen in virtually every country. For example, even today Japan that is considered to be the oldest democracy in the East retained the institute of the Emperor as an irreplaceable element of their culture. Moreover, other traditional Asian values, like collectivism, respect for hard work and full commitment are often seen as main factors that contributed to the economic growth that is experienced by some of the countries in the region. Finally, one should also point out that the above mentioned values also influence the kind of democracy that is spread in the region. The Asians argue that their respect for strong power allows them to avoid the gridlock of the European democracy. All this results in the understanding that the future of East Asia will be largely determined by its past On the other hand, it also may be rather interesting to analyze the views of the opposing side which claims that existence of the Asian values can hardly be held responsible for the success. For example, they argued that people in this part of the world willingly adopt the role of servants of authoritarian regimes. In addition to that, it is suggested that while the above mentioned values existed for a considerable amount of time, the rapid economic growth occurred exclusively in the previous century which challenges the direct connection between the two phenomena. After a detailed examination of the attitude towards the Asian values, it may be rather logical to turn to analysis of some of the states in the region. By far, the country that should be addressed in particular is Japan. Speaking of the future of this member of G7 one might point out and important aspect of its political life: for a considerable amount of time the latter has been dominated by representatives of Liberal Democratic Party (Hrebenar 69). Indeed, the second half of the previous centuries featured only a hand full of Prime Ministers that belonged to a different party. All this provides a person with sufficient grounds suggesting that the future of this country will be closely connected to the activity of the party in question. The next important country of the region is Indonesia. It must be noted that the second half of the twentieth century is marked by the rule of Suharto (Anderson 21). Indeed, the latter can hardly be called a democratic politician. Closer to the beginning of the new millennium, the population rebelled and the political life of the country changed. With this in mind, one should not that there will be no such dramatic shifts in the future of Indonesia that would fundamentally change the political climate. That is why, it is quite possible that the future of this society will be connected with a newly elected president who will have a broader perception of the world and will be willing to reform the country. One last country that should be taken into account is Malaysia. Out of three countries that have been analyzed so far, the latter featured the toughest transition period. It must be noted that the history of this country is inseparably connected to the name of Mohamed Mahathir who appeared to be an authoritarian leader (Milne 6). Even when he left the political scene, he is still thought to be one of the decision makes in the political world. So, the future of Malaysia will change dramatically after his death. Now, it may be rather important to analyze the experience of another three states which are divided now or used to be divided. The first one is Korea. The existence of North and South Korea is the living example of how the Cold War was able to divide the world into two blocks. In spite of the fact that the former superpower have reach an agreement and are cooperating with each other, the Korean nation is still divided into two states and reconciliation is seen as a dream that may not ever come true. Indeed, while the government of South Korea is a democratic one and follows the generally accepted guidelines of the global political community, the power in North Korea is held in one family and will never be shared with the nation. In other words, as long as there is an authoritative regime in this country, there is no hope for unification of the two states. Surprisingly, but China is yet another example of the modern state that is divided. In spite of the fact that it is a prosperous economic giant that seems to be a sold country without any internal conflicts, the truth is that there is the island of Taiwan and is the sworn opponent of it. The conflict can be traced to the times of Moa Zedong and deals with acknowledgement of legitimacy of the new Communistic government. One would make no mistake suggesting that those who live in Taiwan are not able to make their minds. However, the government does not force them to: it cooperated with China, trying to focus on mutually beneficial activities rather than differences. Finally, the country that can hardly be omitted is Vietnam. Just like Korea, it experienced the horrors of the Cold War and bears the scars it a proxy war. Nevertheless, it is the only country out of the three above mentioned ones that was able to unite and overcome the crisis that it experienced in the second half of the previous century. In spite of the fact that the process of unification took away many lives, now it is a country that it looking into the future and gradually rebuilding its relationships with the United States that suffered from the war in Vietnam. Keeping in mind the steps that the two countries make towards each other, one can not help noticing that they finally will reach an agreement. Having examined all the points that were mentioned in the paragraphs above, one might argue that the future of the states that are located in the East and South East Asia is far from being clear. They all have experienced major crises in the previous century and bear a hard legacy of that time. Works Cited Anderson, Benedict R. O. Violence and the State in Suharto's Indonesia. Ithaca, NY: Southeast Asia Program Publications, Southeast Asia Program, Cornell U, 2001. Print. Hrebenar, Ronald J. Party Politics in Japan: Political Chaos and Stalemate in the Twenty-first Century. London: Routledge, 2014. Print. Milne, R. S., and Diane K. Mauzy. Malaysian Politics under Mahathir. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. Read More