SE 522 CULTURAL CONFLICTS

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this lesson is to expand your understanding of the concepts to which you have already been introduced. Specifically, we will explore economic and cultural factors which drive conflict and/or cooperation within a given region. Using the Pacific Rim as a case study you will assess the impact of these factors both within the region, as well as its impact on the larger global community.

LESSON OUTLINE:

Thesis: The Chinese experiment with free markets has huge implications for the Pacific Rim Region. China, with its cultural views of the proper relationship between the individual and the larger society, is moving in a direction that has produced internal tensions in other states in the region. Yet, the possibility exists to create the world's largest and most vibrant economy. How well China (and other states of the region) deal with the sometimes competing imperatives of social/political order and free market economics will be a major factor in determining the new global strategic environment.

Main Point I: Some experts feel that the Pacific Rim will be the most powerful and influential region in the developing strategic environment while others challenge this view.

Main Point II: Examine and compare the forces fueling China's expanding economy with those that might inhibit this growth or even fracture the country.

Main Point III: Ethnocentrism and xenophobia can influence objective analysis.

LESSON INTEGRATION & RATIONALE:

This lesson provides a stimulating look at some of the major forces at work in the Pacific Rim Region. Economics, in contrast to the underlying culture, can be examined as a force for regional integration and individual state fragmentation. This lesson also provides an excellent vehicle for discussing how ethnocentrism and xenophobia can influence analysis.

SE COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Comprehend the characteristics of the contemporary strategic environment.

Comprehend different conceptual frameworks which help us analyze the nature of the strategic environment.

Comprehend that major regional issues and relationships shape the strategic environment.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

522.1 Comprehend the concept of the 21st century as the "Pacific Century."

522.11 Identify the factors portending a growing importance/influence for the Pacific Rim Region with those suggesting otherwise.

* In 1960, 4% of the world's GNP was generated by East Asia; In 1990 it was 25%, and may grow to 33% by 2000. (Bell)

*Factors to be considered: If we are to assess the future of the Pacific/Asian community, we may see this best, not nation by nation, but along several different dimensions, (a) economic, (b) political, (c) military/security, (d) cultural, (e) authoritarian versus democratic government and (f) stability and the possibilities of peaceful political change over time.. (Bell)

* The crucial question is whether the Pacific rim countries will become a Pacific community. In Europe during the twentieth century, the major powers fought two devastating world wars with each other, but today there is a common market and the framework of a European community. With the NAFTA, the United States and its neighbors are developing a common market, and although there may not be a formal North American community, it is clear that on political issues there are few differences between the United States and its neighbors.

This is not the situation in Asia. There is first a heritage of conflict. Between 1890 and 1941, Japan went to war four times--against Korea, Russia, China, and the United States. The occupation of Korea and many Southeast nations, such as Indonesia and Singapore, still rankles. Nonetheless, what is evident today is the large degree of intra-Asian trade.

Taiwan is now the largest foreign investor in Malaysia and Vietnam. Hong Kong and Taiwan account for more than two-thirds of foreign direct investment in China. Japan is the largest investor in Thailand. Japan is now China's largest trading partner. In that same period of time the share of East Asian exports to the United States market fell from 34.1 percent in 1986 to 24.2 percent in 1992, indicating a turn away from dependence on the United States to increased trade flows and investment within Asia.

Little of this has translated itself into effective regional political cooperation. There are the Association of East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asian Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation organization (APEC), which meet regularly, but all that these organizations seem to do is to have their leaders enjoy one another's lavish hospitality and have their pictures taken

* The key to any political community in Asia is China. It is clear that communist ideology no longer can be the binding force of the country. But what can take its place? The most obvious candidate is nationalism.

*Military forces in Asia have been growing. Asia has six of the world's eight largest standing armies: China (3.03 million troops); India (1.265 million troops); North Korea (1.13 million troops); Vietnam (857,000 troops), South Korea (633,000 troops); and Pakistan (577,000 troops). Defense spending in the region has been increasing, as many nations are seeking to modernize their forces, and many advanced fighter planes and modern naval vessels have been introduced

To sum up: there has been so much attention to Asia's economic growth and to trade that security matters have been largely overlooked.

* Cultural: (1) values;usually embodied in religion; and (2) espressive products (art & literature)

522.12 Examine the concept of "modernity" and assess its impact upon the future growth/importance of the Pacific Rim Region.

* It has been written that old divisions between nations, based on economics and ideology, will now be replaced by a new divide based upon cultural conflicts. There are, "Confucian civilizations" and "Islamic civilizations," which will be increasingly opposed to "the West," as the bearer of modernity; this, in turn, will be translated into a new global politics. On the "Confucian" side he placed China and North Korea, but not Japan. The "Islamic" side was centered in the Middle East.

* What is most important is the impact of "modernity" on Asia, and the fear that "modernity," as we have seen it in the West, entails a challenge to traditional values and to traditional structures, especially the patriarchal family. At its best, modernity has meant the extension of personal freedom, particularly in life styles. At its worst, modernity has meant the overstepping of boundaries to encourage drugs, pornography, libertinism, and the lack of individual responsibility for one's actions. There is now, in the West, a reaction against such excesses, and this is reflected, too, in an exaggerated degree, in religious fundamentalist movements. But there is one historic gain from modernity that cannot be reversed, and this is the greater equality for women and the right of women to make their own decisions, rather than as subordinate to men. And the gains in personal freedom may remain as well.

* Loss of culture - mass consumer culture of the West, particularly of the United States, reinforced by the new technological tricks of video and computer games and animation will swamp Asia (Japan may already have been swamped). The contributions of the grand historic cultures of China and Japan may end up only in the museums. not in the lives of people.

522.2 Comprehend how ethnocentrism and xenophobia can affect objective analysis of the Pacific Rim Region.

522.21 Describe differences in the Asian and Western values system as presented in the readings.

Best summarized in the article"Social Values, Singapore Style."

* FAMILY AND MORAL VALUES:

- a sense of community and nationhood, a disciplined and hard-working people, strong moral values, and family ties

- sense of idealism and service, born out of a feeling of social solidarity and national identification.

noneconomic factors translate into the political values the society has society's rejection of corrupt practices and demand for a clean government and civil service.

Our Asian culture puts group interests above those of the individual. We have strong family and extended family ties

The United States and British societies have changed profoundly in the last thirty years. Up to the early 1960s they were disciplined, conservative, with the family very much the pillar of their societies.

US News and World Report recently carried a series of articles entitled "America's New Crusade" on the loss of values in the United States. Twenty-five years ago the United States was swept by the hippie movement, the "flower power" people who smoked pot, promoted free love, believed in "doing their own thing," and opposed the Vietnam War

We must not unthinkingly drift into attitudes and manners which undermine the traditional politeness and deference Asian children have for their parents and elders. It will destroy the way our children have grown up, respectful and polite to their elders.

As Singaporeans become more affluent, parents have increasingly indulged their children's whims and fancies. One small sign of this is the growing number of obese children in schools. The schools are tackling the problem, but too many parents are not cooperating. They think chubby children are cute.

In America, indulgent upbringing of children has brought sorry consequences. If you slap your child for unruly behavior, you risk going to jail. The American and British peoples are fed up with rising crime rates, and want to get tough on crime. This is why Michael Fay's vandalism aroused such interest. Opinion polls showed that the American and British public supported the Singapore government's stand on the caning by large margins.

Fay's parents were outraged instead of being ashamed. They went on radio, television, [and] talk shows, blaming everyone but themselves.

In Confucian society, a child who goes wrong knows he has brought shame upon the whole family. In America, he may win instant stardom, like Tonya Harding.

Welfare is the other area where misguided government compassion has led to disastrous results. The biggest welfare program in America is Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).

The result: The women don't get married and they don't get a job.

Japan, despite its wealth, is still conservative, with only one child in a hundred born out of wedlock. Japanese women feel ashamed to have illegitimate children, and quite rightly so.

Asian society has always held the man responsible for the child he has fathered. He is the primary provider, not his wife. If a woman has a husband, the husband must be responsible for supporting his children,

GOVERNMENTS ROLE TO SUPPORT THE FAMILY: to reinforce the strength of the family.

READINGS:

Bell, Daniel, "Will the Twenty-First Century Be The Pacific Century?"

Segal, Gerald, "China's Changing Shape," World Politics 96/97.

Woo-Cumings, Meredith, "The 'New Authoritarianism' in East Asia."

Tong, Go Chok, "Social Values, Singapore Style."

READING RATIONALE:

Daniel Bell's article questions the common wisdom concerning the future of the Pacific Rim Region with a very western interpretation of the forces he feels will actually influence the region. In "China's Changing Shape," Gerald Segal examines the tension between those forces encouraging decentralization and those seeking to maintain centralization. Meredith Woo-Cumings then explores the linkage between authoritarianism and economic success in Asia, and Singapore's Prime Minister, Go Chok Tong argues that a more authoritarian social system provides a better life, both economically and culturally in "Social Values, Singapore Style."