An alternative route towards socialization of democracy in Asia: review of Liberalism Disavowed: Communitarianism and State Capitalism in Singapore by Chua Beng Huat

ABSTRACT

The contribution of Chua’s Liberalism Disavowed is very large in that it shows how the hegemony of the PAP is working and resisting liberalism, especially in the everyday world of Singaporeans. It re-interprets the origin of public support for the PAP by focusing on its embedded social democratic origin. However, we differ with Chua because we think that the PAP interpreted liberalism very narrowly and rejected it. The strong state, which overwhelms civil society, emerged, interpreting democracy centered on outputs such as stability of economy or higher standard of people’s livelihood rather than inputs such as civic participation or interaction of diverse civil society actors, and openness of the state bureaucracy to civil society. Singapore has sacrificed freedom for political unity. We derive our opinion from of the need to integrate democracy and the social and co-evolution of freedom and equality. We believe that alternative democratic models should be based on the socialization, rather than the nationalization of politics.

KEYWORDS:

• Output-oriented democracy
• democratic inputs
• denial of liberalism
• strong state
• socialization of politics

Notes on contributors

Hee-Yeon Cho is currently the education governor of Seoul Education Office, and a former professor of Sungkonghoe University.

Hun-Gyo Jang is a research professor of Research Center on the Commons and Sustainable Society at Jeju National University.

Notes

1 In South Korea, there have been similar debates around the ruling hegemony of authoritarian systems. We would like to mention here the debate on mass dictatorship, which views public consent as a premise, rather than an element of conflict with authoritarianism. Cho hee-yeon played an important role in the debate. His claim was published in Mobilized Modernism (Cho 2010).

2 In South Korea, there have been efforts to develop a concept of radical democracy, understood as a democratic project that resists and transcends liberal democracy. There are four books that have been published by Demos, a research cooperative, regarding radical democracy: Radicalization of Democracy, Radical Democracy Review No. 1, Demos: Research Cooperative, 2011; Politics of Being in Solidarity, Democracy Review No. 2, Demos, Research Cooperative, 2011; Project for Radical Democracy in Korea, Democracy Review No. 3, Demos: Research Cooperative, 2011; Project for Radical Democracy in Korea II, Democracy Review No. 1, Demos: Research Cooperative, 2011.

3 Cho Hee-Yeon claims that understanding these limitations allows an understanding of the dynamics of modern democracy. He discusses this idea in depth in his recent book. See Cho (2016). The analysis of liberal democracy through a two-track perspective has been a topic of interest to Cho for a long time. We both agree that it is an essential perspective to take in analyzing Korean democracy.

4 Cho Hee-Yeon has raised a similar question about the sustainability of China’s system of one party nation. See Cho (2012).