31 MAY * 2 JUNE 2000
SEOUL, KOREA
The 4th EPCReN workshop
Perceptions of Good Government
'Eurasia Political Culture Research Network' (EPCReN) held its fourth workshop at Sangnam Institute of Management, Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea from 31 May to 2 June 2000. The workshop was an important part of the research project 'Good Government, East Asian and Nordic Perceptions' which has participating research teams from China, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Sweden, and Taiwan. Social scientists from these countries have joined forces to conduct comparative research in order to develop a deeper East West cross-cultural understanding with relation to governmental systems.
* By GEIR HELGESEN
Representatives from our teams in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark met to discuss data presentation and interpretation from surveys conducted in four of the nine participating countries, namely Denmark, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Also discussed was the content and structure of the final publication, scheduled for release in 2002. What follows is a brief description of the preliminary results of the workshop to give an impression of the workshop discussions and an indication of the direction of the analysis.
Trust and rights
Results from three surveys conducted from 1999 to 2000 in Japan, Korea and Denmark revealed similarities as well as differences between attitudes in the three countries in with regard to 'Trust in People'. Trust in people close to you appears to be universal; 'family first' is not only a conservative slogan, it is not even a special East Asian trait, a consensus which should not be surprising. When surveys asked about relations with other categories of relations, there was found to be an average rating from 'do not trust them' to 'trust them completely'.
According to the survey results, belief in the importance of democratic rights was found to be (almost) universal; although rights as such may be somewhat less cherished in Japan and Korea, especially when it comes to political participation. Categories of 'rights' listed in the survey were the right: to vote, to participate in an organization, to gather and demonstrate, to be fully informed about the government, to freedom of speech, and to criticize the government. From the survey it was also found that satisfaction with democratic rights is also lower in the East. This could indicate that governments there might consider increasing the level of information about their work.
Trust in institutions were also shown to be lower in the East, based on survey results. The institutions highlighted in the survey were: the parliament, political parties, trade unions, the media, the legal system, public offices, the police, the armed forces, major companies, and the educational system. According to one interpretation of the results obtained from this query in particular, the core democratic institutions such as the parliament, the judiciary system, and the law-enforcement system lack public support in Japan and Korea. One could then conclude that representative democracy is not yet rooted in that part of the world, or one could say that people in 'the East' are not comfortable with 'Western' institutions. The conclusion was that, in spite of belief in these rights, it is difficult to create satisfaction with them. When compared with those of the West, trust in 'people close to you' may, after all, be built on other principles and values in East Asia...
Upbringing of children
According to the political culture approach, socialization plays an important role by determining the foundation of later attitudes towards matters of political importance. It is hardly possible to understand people's perceptions of central concepts such as power and authority without having a good knowledge about the social values and norms that were transmitted to them during their childhood through upbringing and education. In a cross-cultural study, this aspect is even more important. To consider values and norms from one civilization as universally true without even investigating the matter is not, as we have seen time and again, promoting international understanding.
When respondents were asked a question about a list of qualities which children can be encouraged to learn at home, they were prompted to indicate how they would rate the importance of each of the qualities listed, namely fifteen values, norms and traits (i.e. obedience, creativity, independence, good manners, etc.). We addressed respondents in their role as parents or parents-to-be. All parents wanted their children to develop as sound and mature human beings. There were, however, different understandings about what it implies to reach adulthood as a mature person. Parents had different opinions of what they wanted to 'implant' in the minds of their children.
A conclusion drawn from the results of this line of questioning was that 'good manners' and 'responsibility' seem to be universally cherished (about ninety-five per cent of respondents found them to be 'rather important' or 'very important'). 'Tolerance', 'respect' and 'determination' were also generally found to be strongly supported. Independence was considered to be important, but less so among the Danish respondents, who might have found that there is more than enough independence among the youth of today. 'Hard work' was another quality generally supported, but less so in Japan, where the respondents may have thought that this trait already is a part of the lifestyle. 'Creativity' was considered important; it was found to be mostly so in Korea, where the supposed lack of creativity is a social issue, and to be least important in Denmark, where children and educators have been overly creative for a long period of time to the point that a less creative upbringing might be considered more sound. Ability to 'think for oneself' was considered to be very important in Denmark and Japan, but not so in Korea, where it might have been seen as an individual and, therefore, an egoistic trait. 'Self-restraint', on the other hand, was considered most important in Korea and least important in Denmark, and a similar pattern applies for 'ambition'. Four traits stand out as not being very important although there are some variations. 'Thrift' was seen as important in Korea, but less important in Japan and not so important in Denmark. This variation may follow the level of prosperity and lifestyle in the three compared countries. 'Unselfishness' was perceived as rather important in Japan, less so in Denmark, and actually rather unimportant in Korea. 'Obedience' was not seen as very important. Surprisingly it was more important in Denmark than in Japan and Korea. From what we know from the literature and from personal observation, this response is probably predominantly a reflection of ideals rather than reality. The final item presented to our respondents was 'religious faith'. In all three countries this was not considered to be very important. In Denmark, thirty-six per cent said it was 'not at all important'. This figure is about twenty per cent for Japan and Korea.
Asked to rank the three most important among the list of fifteen values, norms, and traits, the Korean and Japanese respondents ranked 'good manners' as number one, while the Danish respondents ranked 'responsibility' in first place. For all three countries, the second most important was 'responsibility', and the third most important for Korea and Japan was also 'responsibility', while for Denmark it was the ability to 'think for oneself'.
Why did we pose these questions about upbringing in a survey on political culture? In general, people pay much more attention to family matters than to political matters. The central importance of family for the individual seems to be a universal fact. Ronald Ingelhart's study presented in: Human Values and Beliefs: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press (1998) testifies to this claim. Among 42,397 respondents from forty-three countries who were asked about the importance of the following six items: politics, religion, leisure, friends, work, and family, only twelve per cent found politics to be very important to them, while eighty-three per cent said that family was very important. The family is not just important because people say so, but because it is in the family that values, norms and ideas are communicated from generation to generation in the process of upbringing and education. In their behavior people may be marked by political convictions and activities, but before they reach adulthood and their political convictions, they are formed in the social and emotional environment of the family.
To understand politics from a cross-cultural perspective, it is thus necessary, we believe, to understand attitudes towards power and authority, and how these attitudes are formed during childhood. Without such an understanding, it is probably meaningless to discuss why and how trust, leadership, participation and other aspects of political life are understood and performed in different ways in different cultures.
In order to achieve our goal, which is that our study may contribute to a deeper understanding of similarities and differences between East Asian and Nordic perceptions of good government, it is necessary to deal with values, norms, and traits that colour people's world view, and their political attitudes and convictions.
Mentioned here in this report are only preliminary results and analyses. More countries will be included shortly. Any comments to our work at this stage are appreciated and can be directed to the author.
Future plans
The fifth EPCReN workshop is planned to be held in Stockholm in late 2001. Before this workshop, all manuscripts will have been distributed to the network members so that the workshop can concentrate on discussing each contribution before the final revision and publication of the intende volume, Good Government, East Asian and Nordic Perspectives. (working title)
Leading up to the publication of the workshop volume, a number of journal articles focusing on some of the issues we have covered in our surveys, as well as country specific working papers, are planned. Another conference to present and discuss the collected data and data interpretation is planned to be arranged to take place in Copenhagen previous to the 2002 ASEM.
To see illustrative figures of
the above report, please visit: Http://www.nias.ku.dk/epcren
The European Science Foundation Asia Committee was the main sponsor of the workshop, which was also supported by the Korea Foundation.
Dr Geir Helgesen is the EPCReN workshop co-ordinator. He is affiliated
with the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), Copenhagen, Denmark.
E-mail: Geir@nias.ku.dk