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Davis, Michael C. --- "The Political Economy and Culture of Human Rights in East Asia" [2010] ELECD 205; in Joseph, Sarah; McBeth, Adam (eds), "Research Handbook on International Human Rights Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Human Rights Law

Editor(s): Joseph, Sarah; McBeth, Adam

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847203687

Section: Chapter 16

Section Title: The Political Economy and Culture of Human Rights in East Asia

Author(s): Davis, Michael C.

Number of pages: 26

Extract:

16. The political economy and culture of human
rights in East Asia
Michael C Davis



1 Introduction
East Asian experience has long featured prominently among contemporary
debates concerning human rights and development. The authoritarian East
Asian challenge to human rights has set human rights in opposition to Asian
cultural values and related East Asian developmental needs. While several
East Asian countries have defied these claims and established constitutional
democracies with liberal human rights protections, several others, including
China and other post-communist countries in Southeast Asia, have continued
to press these Asian values and developmental arguments to justify authori-
tarianism and severe limits on human rights. At a time when various UN
reports relate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to human
rights and good governance,1 several newly industrialised countries in East
Asia have led the world in economic development.2 This chapter will argue
that full realisation of the promise of these achievements ultimately depends
on constitutional reform that embraces democracy, human rights and the rule
of law.
East Asian experience has tended to demonstrate that constitutional democ-
racy with liberal human rights protection is the regime type most capable of
addressing both cultural values and developmental needs. In the first genera-
tion of rapidly developing countries in East Asia, constitutionalism ultimately
worked better in constructing the conditions for coping with the diverse inter-
ests that emerged in rapidly changing societies. While an East Asian brand of


1 Secretary-General, In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and
Human ...