Political and Economic Development in East Asian Countries - Term Paper Example

Economic Development and Governance: East Asia Politics Introduction The political and economic processes in East Asia are as complex and as dynamicas its culture and people. The political and economic system of East Asia is deeply tied to their rich and diverse culture; and the process of assessing such systems should be based on that context. This paper shall focus on the development of countries other than the so-called First World nations. It shall moderately focus on East Asia and on South Korea. Discussion According to a paper by Kim (p. 54), the East Asia political systems have two major characteristics and these include the unipolar nature (hardware) of the political power and the paternalistic power relations of its culture (software). East Asia culture and politics was also described by Huntington as fundamentally different from one another. Huntington (pp. 417) enumerates that the cultural characteristics of people differ markedly, and with them, their abilities at developing political institutions. The potential for building political institutions is also different for various societies; however in most institutions, political organizations can actually be built based on the slow interaction of existing cultures. East Asian politics is mostly unipolar because it is focused in one center – which may be a personal ruler, a monolithic party, or a coalition of political, bureaucratic, and the economic elite (Kim, p. 54). This unipolar system came about because of the national survival and development that these nations had to undertake in the face of Western colonialism and the political tension during the Cold War era (Kim, pp. 54-55). Years of colonialism called for a monolithic and unipolar political rule and this power was supported by a Communist or nationalist party seen in Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. It was also fueled by the military-ideological face-off which came about as a result of the Cold War as were seen in the case of Japan and South Korea (Kim, p. 55). After the Second World War, these countries were wary of possible security threats, and so with single-minded determination, they sought different strategies for survival. The influence of Russia and the United States was especially crucial in the development of such unipolar regimes in East Asia during the Cold War. Russian and US influence was especially crucial to North and South Korea and the two Chinas (Kim, p. 56). The smaller nations of North and South Korea became more vulnerable to foreign influence, as compared to the China, the bigger nation. North Korea became vulnerable to Soviet occupation after World War II; and this accounts for its present communist and authoritarian rule. In the case of Taiwan, it became vulnerable to the influence of the United States and this may account for Taiwan’s pursuit of independence from mainland Chinese rule (Kim, p. 56). The one-party regime in unipolar organizations, as described by Huntington & Moore (pp. 11-12), comes from “modernizing society in its socio-political bifurcation”. He further explains this by saying that in this bifurcated society, the leaders are pressured to combine and merge opposing interests in order to organize the dominance of one group over the other. In other words, one party seeks to exert its dominance over the other party; and sometimes, the exertion of dominance is usually done through a revolution (Huntington & Moore, pp. 11-12). Huntington and Moore (pp. 11-12) cite a clear-cut case in China when imperial forces constantly threatened its security. In the process of dealing with such security threats, the Communist Party (CCP) came about as a strong political party. And this party went on to eventually monopolize the power in China. Taiwan also had the same roots; however, the nationalist party – the KMT – emerged as the dominant party in Taiwan. Although two different parties emerged in China and Taiwan, their centralized orientation was still very much similar to each other (Kim, p. 62). The one-man rule and oligarchical rule were said to develop in Korea. In the early years of this nation, no revolutionary party existed, politics was characterized by struggles among the different diverse and competing groups; and this made the political scenario very much unstable (Kim, pp. 62-63). When the Japanese forces occupied Korea, there were no native political forces allowed to grow in the region. Upon the retreat of the Japanese forces, Korea was occupied and divided between the United States and the Soviet Union. North Korea was taken under the wing of the Soviet Union, and South Korea, under the influence of the US (Kim, p. 63). South Korea rose as a democracy under US influence, however, it was inexperienced at such system. Consequently, bifurcations were seen in Korea, but these were resolved when the country was divided into Communist and Capitalist states. The analysis of Kim, based on the Korea scenario revealed that one-party rules often emerged in bifurcated or divisive societies because the “domination by the victorious force over the defeated was more absolute” (p. 63). The opposite was seen in one-man rule societies, where they were common in less bifurcated societies. This was the case for the two Koreas. When the dominance of one political power was less absolute, the South Korean one-man rule was less stable. Hence, there were more changes in power from the authoritarian to the democratic regime (Kim, p. 63). There have been changes in the political systems of East Asia in the past decades. The original traits of East Asian politics which actually served as the basis for the traits as described above are not anymore as dominant as they once were. The principles of pluralism and liberalism are slowly gaining ground in East Asia (Kim, p. 64). Huntington (p. 405) also notes that “social mobilization and political participation are rapidly increasing in Asia, Africa, and Latin America”. And such changes have somehow affected the unipolar policies dominant in these societies. One-party regimes or unipolar societies which have been seen in East Asia often faced political struggles with others who sought to question or challenge their dominance. In the process of such political struggles, the one-party regimes often ended up with an “urgent need for integrated power for the party’s survival and the hegemonic control over society…” (Kim, p. 64). As political stability was gradually earned after one-man party rules are challenged, politics then became routinized and there was a decreased need for one-man control or dominance. This was seen in China with the death of Mao and the rule of Deng Xiaoping that followed where, there was less personal authority. The subsequent liberalization of politics and economics was also seen during Deng’s reign (Kim, p. 66). Similar instances were seen in Taiwan and Singapore; however, North Korea and Vietnam have yet to manifest political change. The military juntas were also seen in some parts of East Asia like Burma. These military juntas often expressed their reaction to stagnation in society through their military and subversive actions. They were “passionately devoted to measures of social reform, particularly those which benefit the peasantry” (Huntington, p. 423). Economic Development The economic development of East Asia has not been uniform. Some countries have made dramatic progress in their economy, while others have stagnated; most of them however, fortunately belong to the first group (Ohno, p. 1). East Asian countries have qualities unique to the region, and this may account for their remarkable economic progress. First and foremost, they have diverse ecosystem, population, religion, social and political structure. Secondly, they have also a diverse GDP, per capita income, and economic development (Ohno, p. 1). Thirdly, they have managed to sustain high economic growth for a long period of time in almost all parts of the region. Lastly, they have high savings and investment rates, industrialization and general improvement rates (Ohno, p. 1). However, such economic success was not achieved easily. They also faced setbacks, hardships, wars, instabilities, and crises. And they were also beset with problems relating to poverty, political uprisings, income gaps, environmental degradation, urbanization, and overpopulation (Ohno, p. 1). At this point, the stress wore on for the developing countries to update their technological capabilities. Trade and investment was born out of the need to integrate and update these technologies (Ohno, p. 3). In the region, Japan is one of the most advanced and crucial cog in the bid for technological progress. They are the so-called architects of the East Asia production network (Ohno, p. 4). The improvements made by Japan were supported by the EU and the US which allowed Taiwan, Hongkong, and China to extend their business network. Japan was also able to encourage economic cooperation in the region, giving it a chance for its market to expand. And Japan’s efforts have also primarily assisted East Asian developing countries in the region towards achieving economic progress in the production network and in overcoming social problems (Ohno, p. 4). Starting in 1999, the World Bank has started promoting poverty reduction as the primary goal of development. The problem of poverty has caused economic and income setbacks which affected the quality of life of the people, driving oppression levels even higher. As discussed by Lipset (p. 83), national income is important to the different social values in any country. Lipset (p. 83) discusses that “the poorer the country, and the lower the absolute standard of living of the lower classes, the greater the pressure on the upper strata to treat the lower classes as beyond the pale of human society, as vulgar, as innately inferior, as lower caste”. After the Second World War, the WB has required all poor countries to draft a poverty reduction strategy paper as a crucial tool for development (Ohno, p. 9). As poverty reduction actually dominated the discussions on global development, no country in East Asia “has adopted poverty reduction as the only goal in national economic development” (Ohno, p. 9). Most countries have chosen to focus on pursuing both economic development and on reducing poverty, and not to focus exclusively on one goal over the other. When assessing the bigger picture, their goal has managed to close the gap between the rich and the poor in their society. They have managed to unveil that “there is no ultimate solution to social problems (including poverty) without sustained economic growth” (Ohno, p. 9). Lipset promptly suggested the merits of a democratic society in sustaining economic progress for any country. He cited Aristotle who argued that “only in a wealthy society in which relatively few citizens lived in real poverty could a situation exist in which a mass of the population could intelligently participate in politics and could develop self-restraint necessary to avoid succumbing to the appeals of irresponsible demagogues” (as cited by Lipset, p. 71). Such principles have held an important and influential appeal in the economy of East Asia which has, in recent years, gravitated towards more democratic and equal dealings in economic trade relations. Since the Second World War, the East Asia region notably shifted its sole focus on protecting its culture and traditions and on to economic growth (Ikeo, p. 1). This trend was established and encouraged by the World Bank in its reconstruction efforts after the Second World War. The culture of East Asia is deeply rooted in isolationism primarily because of their varying culture and religious beliefs. The practices of Buddhism, Confucianism, Shintoism, and other religious practices have been practiced in this region for a large part of their history (Ikeo, p. 1). These practices have further limited the economic relations among countries in the region as each nation wanted to seek its own success. However, openings in the economic enterprises were actually dependent on open transactions, only that ordinary people were not allowed opportunities in such economic enterprises. Since the entry of the Western culture into the East Asian trade, the trend in economic development also changed. It adapted a more expansionist attitude as Western nations complained about the exclusionary and isolationist policies in the region (Ikeo, p. 2). Another important feature which was seen after World War II was the fact that Japan and the Philippines were the only two countries to uphold democratic regimes even after the departure of major democratic influence in their territories. And this development has managed to improve the educational attainment in these countries, with the Philippines ranking second to the United States in its high school and university students and with Japan having a higher level of educational attainment than any European State (Lipset, p. 80). South Korea benefitted from the reconstruction efforts initiated by the World Bank after the Second World War. Infusions of foreign assistance helped the country recover from the war and from conflicts and skirmishes with North Korea (Bedeski, p. 78). In the 1950s and 60s it developed an export-oriented strategy as a major strategy in pursuing economic development; and through the guidance of Park Chung Hee, Korea was able to develop its military security, economic development and state-building. During Park’s term, he was also able to initiate industrial development in South Korea and in the process increase the country’s GDP (Bedeski, p.79). The development of South Korea has been made possible as the country has managed to plan its economic activities within the market system. The political and economic development in East Asia has been demonstrably and intricately woven into their faith and religious beliefs. However, since the Second World War and the entry of Western influence into the region, their system has slightly diversified into a more open, liberalist, and democratic context. The economic and political development of the region has gone through dramatic changes which have managed to improve the social and political stability in the region. These changes now account for the current global trend where East Asia has indeed become one of the fastest rising regional economies in the world. Works Cited Bedeski, R. “The transformation of South Korea: reform and reconstitution in the sixth republic under Roh Tae Woo, 1987-1992”. pp. 78-79. New York: Routledge Publishing Huntington, S. “Political Development and Political Decay”. pp. 386-430. April 1965. World Politics, volume 17, number 3. Huntington, S. & Moore, S. “Authoritarian Politics in Modern Society”. pp. 11- 12. 1970. New York: Basic Books. Ikeo, A. “Economic development in twentieth century East Asia: the international context”. pp. 1-2. 1997. New York: Routledge Publishing Kim Yung-myung. “Understanding East Asian Political Systems: Origins, Characteristics, and Changes”. pp. 45-78. 2003. Sunkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, volume 3, number 1. 15 December 2009 from http://sjeas.skku.edu/upload/200605/3.pdf Lipset, S. “Some social requirements of democracy: economic development and political legitimacy”. pp. 69-105. March 1959, volume 53, number 1. Ohno, K. “The East Asian Experience of Economic Development and Cooperation”. pp. 1-9. December 2002. National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS). 15 December 2009 from http://www.grips.ac.jp/module/vietnam/materials/2PN3.pdf Read More