Postmaterial Development : The Search for a New Asian Model

Abstract

Conventional wisdom has it that the Asian "miracle" was fueled by a strictly defined set of "Asian values." On closer examination, those values turn out to be more Western than Asian. The "miracle," moreover, often achieved economic development at the expense of political underdevelopment and ecological destruction. The resulting "Asian model" eschewed a wide range of nonmaterial goals, such as communal integrity and environmental balance, which were deeply embedded in Asian traditions. It took the Asian Crash to puncture that model, casting doubt on the working assumptions of three decades of full-throttle economism. Before the Crash, democratic values were often dismissed - along with human rights, gender rights, and environmental protection - as luxuries to be deferred until after development was complete. Some iconoclasts, such as Amartya Sen, strongly refuted that modernist formula, but it was the Crash that provided the smoking gun to place postmaterialism on the Asian political map. The result is not only a more sustainable model of development, but a more inclusive view of Asian values. Key Words: Postmaterialim, Economism, Asian Values, Asian Model, Asian Crash