Cadet Killian Buckley's Blog

I have a tendency to watch TED Talks on my free time.  Since starting this blog, I have been more attracted to the talks regarding East Asia due to the course material and class discussions.  This talk caught my eye due to its discussion on the role that economics play in East Asian politics.  Economics plays a large role in politics in the United States.  Economic policy varies party to party and individual to individual.  However, as a whole, we have fairly stable economic policy.   Poor economic conditions can lead to a change in power within the United States democratic system. However, the economic status of the nation does not directly affect the legitimacy of the government system or the constitution.  Typically, Americans blame the economic policy on the decisions of politicians or policy.  We do not blame the constitution or the political system for our individual or national economic woes.

Western ideals regarding the relation of government and economics are vastly different than the ideals of many East Asian nations.  In many of these nations, when there is a down turn in economic policy, the actual system of government is put into question.  For this reason, the political leaders of these nations pay particular attention to maintaining a stable economy because it is directly related to the legitimacy of the government system.  Our discussions in class regarding this issue have expanded my viewpoint of the importance of economic policy in these nations.

In LTC Sanborn’s class, we discussed that in the United States, in particular, individual freedoms and rights are deemed more great famine, economic disaster, and extreme poverty.  Many East Asian nations, particularly China, has suffered horrible famine and poverty throughout history.  Therefore, economic stability is far more important than individual rights.  The citizens may be more willing to give up individual rights in return for modern comforts and stability.  This idea is vastly different than the viewpoints of many Americans.  But, then again, we are a young nation with a far different history than the nations of East Asia.  This historical memory of pain and suffering has influenced the ideals of the region and may be the reason why economic stability remains the key way for a government to have legitimacy.