Cadet Killian Buckley's Blog

REFLECTIVE ESSAY: IS-332X-01

Reflective Essay for IS-332X-01

Cadet Killian Buckley

Virginia Military Institute

LTC Sanborn

Politics of East Asia

15 DEC 2014

H/R: See references and class discussions

            Asia is often considered to be one region that is politically and culturally connected by a shared culture and history of Confucianism.   However, this is far from the truth; the cultures of the region are not an interconnected web.  The nations of East Asia have distinctly diverse histories and cultures.  The distinct cultural aspects influence and affect the politics within each individual nation.  Culture plays a large role in politics; creation of political systems, determining an adequate means of evaluating the legitimacy of a government system, voting, adherence to authority, and desire for individual rights.

            In my blog posts on my e-Portfolio, I posted stories and articles that discussed the creation of political systems, legitimacy of governments, power struggle between citizens and those in power, and human rights issues within the East Asian nations of China, North Korea, South Korea, and Japan.  On October 4^th, I contemplated about the Hong Kong University Press website and I saw that there were books with titles like “Electing Hong Kong’s Chief Executive” and “Re-positioning the Hong Kong Government: Social Foundations and Political Challenges”.  In my blog post, I said that the titles “clearly denote a freer press than can be found in China” (Buckley, blog).  This denotes a difference in beliefs regarding individual freedom and democracy between the cultures of each nation or region, or even in the same nation,

            In class, we participated in an exchange with the students in Hong Kong regarding the Hong Kong protests regarding the nomination process of the Hong Kong government.   The exchange was one of the highlights of my semester because it is not often that you are given the opportunity to communicate with students from a foreign university in an academic setting.  I found it interesting how varied the views were of each of the students in the class.  There “debate” about the on-going protests was actually a real debate.  There was real discussion within their classroom regarding the actually political system of Hong Kong.  This was such a unique experience because the political debates within a typical American classroom is typically a party level debate; Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative.  Typically, in an American university, there are not as many classroom or university wide debates regarding the potential change of the United States to a different form of government or an entirely new form of voting.  Witnessing such an event, which is relating to current events, was a valuable learning experience.

            In part one of my Cultural Project, titled “Democracy: A Comparison”, I compared the United States democratic system to the political systems, particularly the developing democracies, in East Asia.  In this essay I discussed how,

“According to a 2009 poll by the American Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 43% of Americans could not correctly define what the Electoral College is and what it means particularly for the presidential election in the United States.”[1]

In the same essay, I described this as concerning but, nevertheless, the United States appears to have a working democracy; “continuous peaceful transition between powers during our election cycle, individualist freedoms, and fair, free elections”.[2]

Furthermore, I compared this American phenomenon with the East Asian democracies by comparing how they evaluate the health and legitimacy of a system of government. I concluded that East Asian nations tend to focus on the economic health of a nation as a predictor of the health of the political system and environment. I conclude this due to our class discussion and readings.  I especially sought Lim out as a resource for this essay due to its discussion on the importance of economics within the region.[3]

In the second part of my cultural project, “Democracy: A Comparison Part II”, I discussed the challenges that democracies face, both in the United States and in East Asia.  I made specific reference to Elsa Sze’s lecture in our class.  I wrote about her company, Agora, and how she believed that a greater connection between the people in the government would lead to lower levels of corruption.  I specifically referenced a story that she had mentioned in class, in regards to her childhood and how her background helped shape who she is and what she does.  I wrote about her story.

“Upon returning to China to visit, she was carrying a bag full of books.  At customs, she was told that her books had to be searched.  Specifically, they had to read through her books that dealt with the history of China…..Elsa Sze said that she was shocked and outraged.  She was disgusted that they saw books, knowledge as a threat.”[4]

Her story of a desire for individual freedoms and the ability to make choices is not a strictly Western desire; it is a human desire. The pattern of the desire for individual freedom and less corruption can be seen throughout the world. In part two of my cultural project, I discussed how this disgust towards corruption can be seen in American history, particularly with the Watergate scandal of the Nixon Era.  I also related it to recent changes within the CCP in China. I wrote,

“Recently, President Xi Jinping of China has begun a campaign to display to the public that he is against corruption…He has investigated 82,533 members of China’s Communist Power.”[5]

I wrote about this recent change in CCP policy to illustrate the similarities between the Western system of democracy and the democracies of East Asia.  I used this imply that both groups are similarly opposed to corruption and enjoy the individual freedoms as a whole.

            In the second part of the cultural project, I relied heavily on my experience in Elsa’s lecture and in my exchange with the students in Hong Kong.  My second cultural project focused more on the people of East Asia and how they may feel about democracy. In this part of the project, I tried to display a connection between the democracies of East Asia and the democracy of the United States by connecting the people.  I felt, after hearing Elsa’s personal journal and hearing from the students of Hong Kong, that people, regardless of culture, want the same basic things.  They want enough individual freedoms to live a life of contentment and they are disgusted by corruption because they see it as an exploitation of their trust.  In the first part of my cultural project, I tried to find the innate differences between the systems.  However, my experiences in the class, particularly the exchange and Elsa’s lecture, helped change my views on this matter.  I began to focus on the similarities of people, rather than the differences.  I focused on the idea that all people want a better life for their children, security, enough individual freedom to live a life of happiness, and to not be exploited by those in power.

            The cultures of the East Asian nations are different from that of the West and this leads to the idea that their political systems, even when they are democracies, may appear and act in a dissimilar manner to the United States’ system.  This difference is due in part to the history of the region, the age of their developing democracies, and the role of economics in the region.  The region of East Asia has a far more ancient and troubled history than the United States.  The United States’ history is extremely short compared to the ancient history of China.  These nations have undergone several changes.  While, their shift to democracy is more recent, the ancient history of war, famine, and controlling governments, make the transition more difficult.  Also, the role of economics within the region plays a part in the success of political systems.[6]  Due to the history of economic instability of the region, the people of this region desire a system of government which would allow for ultimate economic security.  The pain of the past influences these decisions.

            Overall, throughout this course, I have come to the conclusion that systems of government within East Asia are judged differently than the American system, in regards to legitimacy.  The governments of East Asia are judged more harshly by its own people for economic success of the government.  East Asian countries debate the legitimacy of certain political systems.  While, on the other hand, political debates in the United States tend to be party based and not political system based.   However, even with this difference in the evaluation of politics, people all have intrinsic desires for their political future; they want to have the ability to choose to live a fulfilling life, they want to make life better for their children, and they want to be treated fairly by the powers within their country.  This outlook makes the world seem smaller and people more similar.  While cultures are important and do affect politics immensely, all people, regardless of culture, share a basic set of needs in his or her political life.  The specifics of these needs differ by culture.

References

Buckley, Killian. “Democracy: A Comparison”.  Virginia Military Institute.  Politics of East Asia.  17 OCT 14.

Buckley, Killian. “Democracy: A Comparison Part II” Virginia Military School.  Politics of East Asia.  17 November 2014.

Lim, Timothy C. “Politics in East Asia.”

“Study: Americans Don’t Know Much About History.” NBC Southern California. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.

[4] http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/16/us-china-corruption-travel-insight-idUSKCN0J00J620141116

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