ABSTRACT
Cultural Politics and Asian Values looks at the political, cultural and religious background of East and Southeast Asian societies and those of 'the West', with a view to seeing how they are affecting contemporary national and international politics: democratization, the international human rights discourse, NGOs and globalisation.
The book surveys the political history and pre-history of the 'Asian values' debate, taking it up to the era of Megawati Sukarnoputri, Chen Shui-bian and Kim Dae-jung. In chapters on Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and liberalism, Barr explores the histories and conceptual essences of the world religions involved in or affected by the debate.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |76 pages
Part I Cultural politics
chapter |9 pages
1 Death of a debate?
chapter |18 pages
2 A broad history: from Meiji to ‘East Asian Miracle'
chapter |16 pages
3 Narrow histories: Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Mahathir
chapter |18 pages
4 Confronting China after the end of history
chapter |13 pages
5 Fin de siècle: ‘Democratic Moment', financial crisis and beyond
part |98 pages
Part II Values and religions
chapter |11 pages
6 Of liberalism and other religions
chapter |31 pages
7 The European legacy: Christianity and liberalism
chapter |17 pages
8 Islam: of Shari'a and Adat; Caliphs and Rajas
chapter |19 pages
9 Buddhism: The politics of compassion
chapter |18 pages
10 Confucianism: humane rites and elite rights
part |19 pages
Part III Cultural politics and Asian values