And those principles luive an afterlife in Teiiima Bell's work, it only as an instinctive recoil from the toss-of-the-dice chanciness

that an immersion in painterly landscape can, foi" belter ov lor worse. ini|)ly. Temma Hell does not see insuibiliiy and confusion as part of the modern expei ieTice, but her rejection is personal and idiosyncratic, and it has nothing lo do with the imperious chill of a reac-

tionary gesuire. She keeps so close to the immediacy of the act of painting that we experience things right along with her. Her dogs, her poultry, her vine-covered fence and ber arching tree seem castiallv described, but they liave a weight, a force. Beir.s exhibilion this spring, like most of her others, included cozy interior scenes, with children reading books and cats sitting on tables heaped with ptimpkins and squash. The \'ariet)'of her

interests and the lightness of her touch could have led some people to miss the incisiveness of her thought. In the landscapes, certainly, the slightest shil'i in tone or touch conveys a topographical sensitivity that bears ctimparison to Rui.sdael and (^lurbet. Bell gives a contemporary exuberance to an older kind ot objectivity. She reclaims the story-telling richness of landscape for our generation. This is a major achievement.

What Lee Kuan Yew and Li Peng don't understand about Asia.

Human Rights and Asian Values

BY AMARTYA SEN Stressed by several official delegations at the World Conference on Human Rights n 177(i. just when the in Vienna in 1993. The foreign minister Declai ation of Independence of Singapoie warned that "universal rewas being adopted in this cognition of the ideal of human rights cotmtry, Thomas Paine com- can be harmful if tiniversalism is used to |>iained. in Common Sense, that Asia bad deny or mask the reality of diversity." "long expelled" freedom. In this lament, The Chinese delegation played a leading i*aine saw Asia in company with much role hi emphasizing the regional differof the rest of the world (America, be ences, and in making sure that the prelioped, would be different): "Freedom scriptive framework adopted in the decliatb been htmied roiuid die globe. Asia larations made room for regional diverand Africa have long expelled her. Eur- sity. The Chinese foreign minister even ope regards her as a stranger and Eng- put on record the proposition, apparland hath given her warning to depart." ently applicable in C.liina and elsewbere, Foi" Paine, political Ireedoin and democ- that "Individtials must put the states' I'acy were valuable anywhere, though rights before their own." they were being violated nearly everyI want to examine the thesis that where. Asian values are less supportive of freeThe violation of freedom and democ- dom and more concerned with order racy in different parts oi the world con- and discipline, and that tlie claims of linucs today, if not as comprehensively as human rights in the areas of political and in Paine's time. Ihere is a difference, civil liberties, therefore, aie less relevant ihotigh. A new class of aiginiiciits have and less appropriate in .Vsia tban in emerged that deny the tniiversal impor- the West. The defense of authoritariantance of these freedoms. The most pro- ism in Asia on the grotmds of the special [ninent of these contentions is the claim nature of/Vsian values calls for historical that Asian values do not regard freedom scrutiny, to which I shall presently turn. to be important in the way that it is re- But there is also a different justification garded in the West. Given tbis difference of authoritarian governance in Asia that in value systemstbe argmnent rims has received attention recently. It arAsia must be faithfnl to its own system of gues for authoritarian governance in tiie interest of economic development. Eee philosophical and |)olitical priorities. Kuan Vew, the Ibrmer prime minister of (liiltural dillerences and valtie differ- Singapore and a great champion of the ences between Asia and the West were idea of "Asian values," has defended atithoritarian arrangements on the ground A.M.\tirvA SF.N is Lamont University Pro- of their alleged effectiveness in promotfessor and Professor of Economics and ing economic success. Philosophy at Harvard L'niversitv. Does aiuhoritarianism really work so An earlier vei'sion of this essay was given as the Morgentliaii Memorial Lec- well? It is certainly trtie that some relattne at tlie Carnegie Council (jn Ethics lisely authoritarian states (.such as South and International .Affairs on May 1. 1997. Korea, Lee's Singapore, and post-rcibrm Ill }9'>7Oimrgie Cminnlim Elhic itiid hiliTiiiilninalAfjiiir\ China) have had faster lates of economic growth than many less authoritarian ones (such as India, C^osta Rica or Jamaica). But the "Lee hypothesis" is based on very selective and limited information, rather than on any general statistical testing over the wide-tanging data that are available. We cannot really take the high economic growth of Cbina or South Korea in ,\sia as "proof positive" that authoritarianism does better in promoting economic growthany more tban we can draw tbe opposite conclusion on the basis of the fact that Botswana, tbe fastest-growing African country (and one of the fastest growing coimtries in the world), has been a oasis of democracy in tbat unhappy continent. Much depends on the precise circumstances. There is little general evidence, in fact, that authoi'itarian governance and the stippression of political and civil rights are really beneficial in encouraging economic development. The statistical picture is much more complicated. Systematic empirical studies give no real support to the claim that there is a general conflitt bet\veen political ligbtsand economic perfoi niances. Hie directional linkage seems to depend on many other circmiistances, and while some statistical investigations note a weakly negative reKition, others find a strongly positive one. On balance, the hypotliesis that there is no relation between freedom and prosperity in either direction is bard to reject. Since political liberty has a significance of its own, the case for it remains untarnished. There is also a more basic issue of research methodology. We nitist not only look at statistical connections, we must examine also the causal processes that are involved in economic growth
JULY 14 a 21,1997 THE NEW REPUBLIC 33

and development. The economic policies and circumstances that led to the success of cast Asian economies are by now reasonably well understood. Wiiile different empirical studies have varied in emphasis, there is by now a fairly agreed-upon list of "helpful policies," and they include openness to competition, the use of international markets, a high level of literacy and education, successful land reforms, and ptiblic provision of incentives for investment, exporting, and industriali7aUon. Tliere is nothinj^ whatsoever to indicate that any of these policies is inconsistent with greater democracy, that any one of them had to be sustained by the elements of authoritarianism that happened to be present in South Korea or Singapore or C-hina. The recent Indian expei ience also shows that what is needed for generating faster economic growth is a friendlier economic diniaie rather tlian a harsher political system. It is also important, in this context, to look at the connection between political and civil rights, on the one hand, and the prevention of tnajor disasters. on the other. Political and civil rights give people ihe opporttmity to draw attention forcefully to general needs and to demand appropiiate public action. The governmental response to acute suffering often depends on the pressure that is put on it, and this is where the exercise of political rights (voting, criticizing, protesting, and so on) can make a real difference. I have discussed (in these pages and in my book Ri'sourres.

tinely good, this consecjuence of democ- Asia and even within countries such as racy may not be sorely missed. But it Japan or China or Korea, and attempts comes into its own when things get at generalization about "Asian values" fouled up. for one reason or another. (with fbrcefiil and often brutal impliThen die political incentives provided by cations for masses of people in this redemocratic governance acquire great gion with diverse faiths, convictions, and practical valtie. To concentrate only on commitments) cannot btit be extremely economic incentives (which the market crude. Eveu the 2.8 million people of system provides) while ignoring political Singapore have vast variations of culincentives (which democratic systems tural and liistorical traditions, despite provide) is to opt for a deeply unbal- the fact that the conformism that charanced set of grotmd rules. acterizes its political leadership and the official inlerpretation of Asian valties is very powerful at this lime. n. Still, the lecognition of helerogeneity lurn now to the natme and in the iraditions of Asia does not settle the relevance of Asian values. the i.ssue of the presence or the absence This is not an easy exercise, of a commitment to individual ireedom for various reasons. The size and political libert)' in Asian culture. of Asia is ilsclf a problem. Asia is where The traditions extant in Asia differ about 60 percent of the woild's popula- among themselves, but they may share tion lives. Whal can we take to be the some common characteristics. It has valties of so vast a region, with so mnch been asserted, for example, that the diversity? li is important to stale at the treatment of elderly members of the outset thai there are no quintessential family (say, aged parents) is more supvalues that separate the Asians as a portive in Asian cotintries than in the group from people in the rest of the West. It is possible to argue about this world and which fit all parts of this claitn, but there would be nothing very immensely large and heterogeneous peculiar if some similarities of this kind population. The temptation to see Asia as a single unit reveals a distinctly Etir- or cither kinds were u> obtain across ilie ocentric perspective. Indeed, the term diverse ctiliuies of Asia. Diversities ueed "the Orient," which was widely tised for a not apply u every field. The question long time to mean essentially what Asia that has to be asked, rather, is whethmeans today, referred to the positional er Asian countries share the common vision of Etirope. as it contemplated ihe feattire cjf being skeptical of freedom and liberty, while emphasizing order and dii'ection of the rising sun. discipline. The advoc ates of Asian parIn practice, the advocates of "Asian ticularism allow internal heterogeneity' values" have tended to look primarily at within Asia, but in the context of a Values, and DnifUyjnnnit) the remarkahle east Asia as the region of their partictilar shared mistrust of the claims of political fact that, in the terrible history of applicability The generalization about liberalism. famines in the world, no substantial the contrast between the West and Asia famine has ever occurred in any inde- often concentrates on the land to the iuhoi'itarian lines of reapendent and democratic country with east of Thailand, though there is an even soning often receive indirect backing from certain a relatively free press. Whether we more ambitious claim that the rest of strains of thought in the look at famines in Sudan, Kthiopia, Asia is rather "sinular." Lee Kuan Yew Somalia, or other dictatorial regimes, or outlines "the fundaineutal difference be- West itselt. 1 here is cleariv a teudeiicv in in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, or in tween Wesieru concepts of society and America and Europe to assume, if only C;hina from 195H to 1961 (at the failure governmenl and EasI Asian cone e[>ts" by iui[)ii( itly. the primacy of political freeof the (ireat Leap Forward, when be- explaining that "when I say EastiVsians, I dom and democracy as a fundamental tween 23 and 30 million people died), mean Korea, Japan. China. Vietnam, as and ancient feature of Western culture or currently in North Korea, we do not distinct from Scuuheast Asia, which is a one not to be easily found in Asia. There mix between the Sinie and the Indian, find exceptions to this rule. (It is true though Indian cuhtire itself emphasizes is a contrast, it is alleged, between the aiilhoritarianism implicit in. say, Conftithat Ireland was part of democratic Brit- similar values," cianism and the respect for liberty and ain during its famine ol the lS4(ls, but autonomy allegedly deeply rooted in III fact, even east Asia itself has much the extent of London's political dominance ovei" the Irish was so strongand diversit). and there are many variations Western liberal culture. Western promoters of personal and political freeck)m in the social distance so great and so old. to be found between Japan and Clhina the non-Western world often see such as illustrated by Spenser's severely un- and Korea and other parts of east Asia. an analysis as a necessary preliminary friendly description of the Irish in the Various cultural influences from inside to bringing Western values to Asia and sixteenth centurythat the English rule and otitside this region have affected Africa. over Ireland was, for all practical ptir- htmian lives over the history of this large territory. These influences still snrIn all this, there is a substantial tenposes, a colonial rtile.) vive in a variety of ways. Thus, my copy dency to extrapolate backwards from the While this connection is clearest in the case of famine prevention, the posi- of Houghton Mifilin's /l/fflrtH( describes present. Values that the European entive role of political and civil rights the religion of the 124 million [apanese lightenment and other relatively recent applies to the pievention of economic in the following way: 112 million Shin- developments have made widespread and social disasters generally. When toist, 93 million Buddhist. Cultures and cannot really be seen as part of the Westtraditions overlap in regitms such as east ern heritage as it was experienced over things go fine and everything is rou-

34 THE NEW REPUBLIC JULYi4ai2i,i997

inilk'niiia. In answer lo tlie qticstion, "ai wliat date, in what circumstances, the notion ol' individual liberty ...firstbecame explicit in the West," Isaiah Berlin has noted: "I have t'ound no conviii<iiig evidence oi any clear fbimuhilion nfil ill ihe iiiicient world." This view has hct-n disputed by Orlando Patierson. among others. He points to particulai features in Western ciilttire, particnlai h in Clreccc and Rome, and in the iratlition of Christianity, which indicate the pnscnce of selective championing ol in(ii\i(ltial liberty. lie question tbal does noi get adequately answered i( is scarcely even asked is whcthf r similar elements are absent in other cultures. Berlin's thesi.s cfncerns the notion ol individual Irt't'dom as we now understand it, antl lilt- aljsence of "any clear fornuilation" of this can certainly co-exist vvilb the advocacy of selected annJHiiieiilsiii the compiehensive notion thai makes up the coiuemporary idea of individual liberty. Such components are found in the (iit'co-Ronian vv<}rld and in the world ol [fwisli and Oinistian ibougln. But sucli an ac knowlccignicnl lias to l)e followed up by cxaniininif wlietliei these components arc absent elsewherethat is, in non-Western cultures. We have t<} search for the parts rather than the whole, in the Wc^st and in Asia and elsewhere. To illustrate this point, consider tlic idea that personal freedom for all is inijjortant [or a good society. This claitn (an be seen as being composed of two (lisiinci elements; (I) ihe value of personal Ireedom: that personal Ireeclom is important and shotild be gtiaranteed lor those who "matter" in a good societv'; and (2) the equality of freedom: thai cvct\'onc' matters, and personal freedom siiotikl be guaranteed, on a shared basis, (or all. Aristotle wrote much in stipport ol' thf former proposition, but in his exclusion of women and slaves he did little to defend the latter. IncJeed, the championinj^ of equality in this form is of qtiite recent origin. Even in a socictv stratilicd according to class and < asu', IVffdoni could be valued for llie ])rivilcgt'd-^such as the Mandarins and tlu- Brahminsin much ihc- same- way ihat freedom was valued foi' non-slave iTU'ii in corresponding tireck concepiions of a good society. Or consider another useful distinction, between (1) the value of toleration: thai thc-re mtist be toleration of diverse beliefs, coimnitnients and actions ot different people; and (2) the cqtiality ol tolerauce: tliat the toleration lliat is otleic'd to some must be rc;as()nabl)' ot'lered to all (except wlieu toler-

NOW inil PAPERBACK

Search and Destroy
African American Males in the Criminal Justice System

Jerome G. Miller "Jerry Miller's Search and Destroy is a riveting and important exploration into the criminal justice system in America today and its impact on young African American males. Everybody should read it and decide how to devote more energy to keeping our young men out of the criminal justice system. Something is wrong with the values ofa nation that would rather spendJar more to lock up children than spendfar less to give them a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life."

DESTROY

"

' ^

LED

Marian Wright Edelman, President, The Children's Defense

Fund and author of The Measure of Our Successes: A Letter to My Children and Yours
59858-3 Paperback S16.95

Available in bookstores or from ^_

40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211.

(.AMBRIDGE '^^'i*"'-^^^800-8727423.
^r...^.,^.^.^ ^ Web site: http://www.cup.org UNIVERSITY PRESS MasterCard/VISA accepted. Prices subject to change.

One of the foremost philosophers of our time here continues the Socratic tradition of investigation, This volume, which illustrates the originality, force, and scope of Robert Nozick's work, displays his trademark blending of extraondinat7 analytical ngor with intellectual playfulness. Comprising essays and philosophical fictions, classics and new work, the book ranges from Socrates to W, V, Quine, from the implications of an Israeli kibbutz to the flawed arguments of Ayn Rand, With a personal introduction in which Nozick discusses the origins, tools, and themes of his work, Socratic Puzzles demonstrates how philosophy can constitute a way of life. $35.00 doth

Harvard Universfty Bess

800448224;

JULY 14 & 21,1997 THE NEW REPUBLIC 35

ance of some will lead to intolerance for others). Again, arguments lor some tolerance can be seen plentifully in earlier Western writing.s. without being supplemented by arguments lor universal tolerance. The roots of modern democratic and liberal ideas can be sought in terms of eonstitutive elements, rather than as a whole. n the terms of such an analysis, the question has to be asked whether these constitutive components can be found in Asian writings in tbe way they can be found in Western thougbt. The presence of these components must not be confused witb the absence of tbe opposite, that is, with the presence of ideas and doctrines that clearly do not empb^isize freedom and tolerance. The (luunpioning ot order and discipline can be tound in Western classics as well. Indeed, it is by no means clear to me that Confucius is more autboritarian than, say, Plato or Augtistine. The real issue is not whetlier these non-freedom perspectives are present in Asian traditions, but whether the freedom-oriented perspectives are absent from them. This is where the diversity' of Asian value .systems becomes qnite central. An obvious example is the role of Buddliism as a form of tbought. In Buddbist tradition, great importance is attached to freedom, and the traditions of earlier Indian thinking to which Buddhist thoughts relate allow mucli room for volition and free choice. Nobility of conduct has to be achieved in freedom, and even the ideas of liberation (stich as moksha) include tbis leattire. fhe presence of these elements in Buddhist tbought does not obliterate the importance of the discipline emphasized by (^onfttcianism, but it wtiuld be a mistake to take (Confucianism to he the only tradition in Asiaor in ('liina. Since so much of tbe contemporary authoritarian interpretaLion of .Asian values concentrates on Confucianism, tbis diversity is particularly worth emphasizing. Indeed, the reading of Confucianism that is now standard among authoritarian champions of Asian values does less than jtistice to Confucius's own teachings, to which Simon Leys has recently drawn attention. Clonfticius did not reconinuMid Ijlind allegiance to tbe state. When Zilu asks bim "how to serve a prince," Conhicius replies: 'Tell bim tbe truth even if it offends him." The censors in Singapore or Beijing would take a very different view. Conlncins is not averse to practical caution and tact, but he does not forgo the recommendation to oppose a bad government. "When tbe [good] way prevails in tbe state, speak boldly and act boldly. When the state

bas lost the way, act boldly and speak softly." Indeed, Confucius clearly points to the fact that the two pillars of tbe imagined edilice of Asian values, loyalt\' to family and obedience to the state, can be severely in conflict with eacb other. Tbe Governor of Sbe told Confucius, "/\inong my people, there is a man of unbending integrity: when his father stole a sheep, he denotinced him." To tbis. Confucius replied: "/Vinong my people, men of integrity do things differently: a father covers up for his son, a son covers uj) for his fatherand tbere is integrity in what tbey do." Elias C^anetti observed that, in luiderstanding the teachings of CConlucius, we have to examine not only what he says, hut what he does not say. The siibtlcty involved in wbat is often called "tlie silence of C'onfucius" seems to have e.scaped bis austere modern interpreters, who tend to assume that what is not explicitly supported must be implicitly forbidden. It is not my contention that cins was a democrat, or a great of freedoin and dissent. Yet there is certainly good reason lo question the monolithic image of an autboritarian (^onfuc ius tbat is i:bam[)i<)netl by tlie contemj}orary advocates of Asian valties.

Asboka in tbe third century B.C. Asboka commanded a larger Indian empire than any other Indian king (indtiding the Moghiils. and even tbe Raj. if we omit tbe native states that tbe British let be). He turned bis attention to jjtiblic ethics and enlightened polities after being horrified by the carnage that he witnessed in his own \'ict<)rious battle against the king of Kalinga, in what is now Orissa. be emperor converted to Buddbism. He helped to make it a world religion by sending emissaries abroad witb the Btiddhist message to East and West, and he covered the country with stone inscriptions describing forms of good life and the natme of good government. The inscriptions give a special importance to tolerance of diversity. Tbe edict (now numbered XII) at Erragudi, for example, puts tbe issue thus:
. . . a iiiiiTi niiisl nol do rfvereiice to his own sect or disparage that of another man without u-asdii. Dt'prcc iatton .should he for spcciMc reason only, because ihc scets of other people all deserve reverence for one reason or another. By thus acting, a man exalLs his own seci, and al the same linu- does sirrvicc lo the sects of other people. By aclin^ contrariwise, a mail hurts his own sect, and docs disservice to the sects of other people. Foi' he who does reverence m his own sect while disparaging the sects of others wholly from attathnient to his own. with inieni to enhance ihc .splendour ol his own sect, in realilv by snt li < (iiuhu i inflicts the sfvercst injury on his own sect.

in.
f we tm n our attention from China to the Indian subcontinent, we are in no danger of running into a bard-tointerpret silence. It is difficult to out-do tbe Indian traditit)ns in arguing endlessly and elaborately. India not onh has the largest religiotis literature in tbe world, it also lias the largest volume of atheistic and materialistic writings among the ancient civilizations. The Indian epic Mnhabharala, which is often compai ed to the Iliad or the Odyssey, is in fact seven times as long as the Utud and tbe Od'issey put together. In a well-known Bengali poem written in the nineteenth century by tbe religious and social leader Ram Mohan Ray, the borror of death is described tlitis: "|ust imagine bow terrible it will be on the day you die, /Otberswill go on speaking, but you will not be able to respond." This fondness for disputation, for discussing things at leisure and at length, is itself somewhat in tension witb the order and discipline championed in allegedly Asian values. But the content ol what has been written also displays a varietv of views on freedom, tolerance, and ecjuality. In many ways, tbe most interesting articulation of tlie need for tolerance on an egalitarian basis can be found in the writings of tbe emperor

Tlie impt)rtance of tolerance is emphasized in these edicts from the tbiid century B.C.their importance as public policy by the government and as advice ibr the behavior of citizens toward each other. Abottt the domain and the jurisdiction of tolerance, .Asboka was a universalist. He demanded this for all, including those whom he described as "forest people," the tribal population living in pre-agricultural economic formations. Condemning bis own cotiduct before bis conveision, Asboka notes thai in tlie war in Kiilinga "men and animals numbering t)ne htmdreci and fifty thousands were carried away [captivel from that [defeated] kingdom." He goes on to state that the slaughter or the taking of prisoners "of even a hundredth or thousandth part of all those people who were slain or died or were carried away [captive] at that rime in Kalinga is now considered very deplorable" by him. Indeed, be proceeds to assert lliat now be believes that "even if [a person] should wrong him. that [offense] would be forgiven il it is possible to forgive it." Tbe

36 THE NEW REPUBLIC JULV I4 & 21,1997

object of his government is described as "noti-injiiry, restraint, impartiality, and mild behavior" applied "to all creatures."

dren they give birth to"; but this obligation is very far from valuing the freedom of these people to decide bow they wisb to live. Tbe tolerance of heterodoxy is slioka's championing of not to be found bere. Indeed, tbere is egalitarianism and univer- very little tolerance in Kautilya, except sal tolerance may appear tolerance for the upper sections of the tin-Asian to some commen- community. tiiiors, but bis views are firmly rooted WTiat, tben, do we conclude from in lint's of analysis already in vogue in this? Certainly Kiuitilya is no democrat, intellectual Buddhist circles in India no egalitarian, no general promoter of in tbe prtxcding centtiries. In this ton- everyone's freedom. And yet, when it text, however, it is interesting to look comes to tbe characterization of what al anolber authoi" whose treatise on gov- the most favored peoplethe upper ernance and political economy was also clas.sesshould get, freedom figures profoundly intluential. I reier to Kau- quite prominently. The denial of pertilya, the author of Arthnshastra, which sonal liberty of the upper classes (tbe sotan be translated as "economic science," called "Arya") is seen as unacceptable. though it is at least as much concerned wiili practical politics as with eccmomics. Indeed, regular penalties, some of them K;uitilya was a contemporary of AristoUc. heavy, are specified for the taking of He lived in the fourth century B.C., and sucb adults or cbiidren in indenture worked as a senior minister of emperor even tbough the slavery o\' the existing (Jiandragiipta Matu ya, Ashoka's grand- slaves is seen as perfectly acceptable. To father, who bad established the large be sure, we do not find in Kiiiitilya anyMaurya empire across the subcontinent. thing like Aristotle's clear articulation of K;iutilya's writings aie often cited as the importance of free exercise of capaproof tbat freedom and tolerance were bility. But the focus on freedom is clear not valued in tbe Indian classical tradi- enough in K;iiitilya as far as tbe tipper tion. Tbcrc are two aspects of the im- classes are concerned. It contrasts witb pressively detailed account of economics the governmental duties to tbe lower and politics to be foutid in Arthashastra orders, wbicb take die paternalistic form that tend to suggest tbe view that tbere of state assistance for the avoidance of is no support bere for a liberal democ- acute deprivation and misery. Still, inracy. First, Katitilya is a consequentialist sofar as a view of tbe good life emerges of quite a narrow kiud. Wliile the ol> in all this, it is an ideal that is entirely )('(tivcs of promoiing die happiness of consistent with a fieedom-vahiing ethiibe subjects and tbe order in the king- cal system. Its domain is limited, to be dom are .*itrongly backed np by detailed sure; hut tbis is not wildly different from |)olicy advice, tbe king is seen as a be- the Greek concern with free men as nevolent autocrat, whose power, albeit opposed to slaves or women. to do good, is to be maximized tbroiigh proper organization. Thtis, Arthashastra have been discussing in presents ideas and suggestions on such some detail the political ideas practical suljjects as famine prevention and practical reason preand administrative effectiveness that sented by two forceftil, btit remain relevant even todaymore than very different, expositions in India re2,000 years laterand ai tbe same time spectively in the fourth and third renit advises tlie king abotit bow to get his turies B.(;., becatise their ideas bave way, if neces.sary through tbe violation of influenced later Indian writings. I do tbe freedom of his adversaries. not want to give the impression that all Indian political commentators took Second, Kautilya seems to attacb lit- lines of approach similar to Asboka's or tle importance to political or economic Kautilya's. Qtiitc the contrary. Tbere are equality, and bis vision of tbe gooct soci- many positions, before and after Kautilya ety is sirongly stratified according to lines and Asboka, that contradici tbeir respecof class and caste. Even tbough his objec- tive claims, just as tliere are otbers that tive of promoting bappiness applies to are more in line with Ashoka or Kautilya. The importance of tolerance, even all. his other objectives clearly have an incgalitarian form and content. There is the need for its universality, is eloquently an obligation to provide tbe less fortu- expressed in different media: in Sbi;nate members of the society the support draka's drama, in Akbai's political proibat tbey need for escaping misery and nouncements, and in Kabir's poetry, to enjoying lifeK;uitilya specifically iden- name just a few examples. The presence tifies as (be duty of ibe king to "provide of these contribtuions does not entail die orphans, tbe aged, the infirm, the the absence of opposite arguments and aflli( ted, and ibe belpless with mainte- recommendations. Tbe point, rather, is nance," along with providing "subsis- that the heterogeneity of Indian traditence to helpless women when tbey are tions contains a variety of views and reacarrying and also to the [newborn] chil- sonings, and they inchide. in different

ways, arguments in favor of tolerance, of freedom, and even (in the case of Ashoka) of equality at a very basic level. mong the powerful expositors and practitioners of tolerance of diversity' in India, of course, we must count the great Moghul emperor Akbar, who reigned between 1556 and l(i()5. Again, we are not dealing bere with a democrat. He was, instead, a powerful kingwhcjempbasi/ed tbe acceptability of diverse forms of social and religious behavior, and who accepted buman rigbts of various kinds, including freedom of worship and religiotis practice, that would not have been so easily tolerated in parts of Europe in Akbar's time. Consider an example. As the year 1000 in the Muslim Hijra calendar was reached in 1591-92. there was excitement about it in Delhi and Agra {not tmlike wbat is bappening now, as tbe Cbristian year 2000 approaches), Akbar issued various enactments at tbis juncture of history, and tbese focused inter aliaon reiigiotis tolerance, including the following:

No Tiiiiii should be inlerfererl with on accoiiiil of religion, and anyone [is] lo be allowed to go over to A religion he pleased.

Robert Littell's

HCCIIT brings the KGB bach...

the riveting new from Hie American le Carre"
"IfUttelldidni invent the American spy / nevel.iiesheuid j^^ have." / "

Tom Clancy Jra

Asgoedas ^ thriiler writing gets."

WasMngten Post
NEW IN kwdcovER THE OVERLOOK PRESS to order call 914-679-6838
JULY 14 & 21,1997 THE NEW REPtlBLIC 37

If a Hindu, wht-ii a child 01 oihciwisc, had been made a Muslim againsi his will, he is to be allowed, if he pleased, lo go back lo the religion of his fathers.

Again, the domain of tolerance, while neuiral with respect to religion, WHS not universal in other respectswith respect to gender equality, or to cqualitv' between yoiinf^er and older people. Akbar's enactment went on to argiic for the forcible repatriation of a yoimg Hindu woman to her father's family it she had abandoned it in pursuit of a Muslim lover. In the choice between stipporting the young lovers and the yoimg woman's Hindu father, old Akbar's sympathies are entirely with the father. Tolerance and equalit)' at one level are combined with intolerance and inequality al another level. And yet the extent of general tolerance on matters of belief and practice is quite remarkable. It may not be irrelevant to note, especially in the light of the hard sell of "Western liberalisTn," that while Akbar was making these pronotincements on religious tolerance, the Inquisition was in full throttle in Europe. IV.

It is also important to note that Akbar was not unique among the Moghul emperors in being tolerant. In many ways, the later Moghul emperor, the very intolerant Anrangzeb, who violated many of what we would now call the human rights of Hindus, was something of an exceptioti to the Moghul rule. The exponents of Hindu politics in contemporary India often try to deny the tolerant nature of mucli of Moghul rule, but this tolerance was handsomely acknowledged by Hindu leaders of an earlier vintage. Sri Aurobindo, for example, who established the famous ashram in Pondicherry, specifically idendfied this aspect of the Moghul rule: "[T]he Mtissulman domination ceased very rapidly to be a foreign rule The Moghid empire was a great and magnilicent ccjiistruction and an immense amount of political genius and talent was employed in its creation and maintenance. It was splendid, powerful and beneficent and, it may be added, in spite of Aurangzeb's fanatical zeal, infinitely more liberal and tolerant in religion than any medieval or contemporary European kingdom or empire." And, even in the case of Aurangzeb, it is useful to consider him not in isolation, but in his familial setting. For none of his immediate family seemed to have shared Atirangzeb's intolerance. Dara Shikoh, his elder brother, was much involved with Hindu philosophy and, wiih the help of some scholars, he prepared a Persian translation of some of the Upanishads, the ancient texts dating from about the eighth century B.C. In fact, Dara had much stronger claims to the Moghul throne than Aurangzeb, since he was the eldest and the favorite son of his father, the emperor Shah |ahan, Aurangzeh fought and killed his brother Dara, and imprisoned his father. Shah Jahan, for the rest of his life (leaving him, the builder of the Taj Mahal, to gaze at his creation in captivity).

religious differences. As the Moghul historian Khafi Klian, no admirer of Shivaji in other respects, reports: "[Shivaji] made it a rule that wherever his followers were plundering, they should do no harm to the mosques, the book of God, or the women of anyone. Whenever a copy of the sacred Quran came into his hands, he treated it with respect, and gave it to some of his Mussulman followers." A very interesting letter to Aurangzeb on the subject of tolerance is attributed to Shivaji by some historians (such as Sirjadimath Sarkar, the author of the
classic Shivaji and His Times, published

in 1919), though there are some doubts about this attribution. No matter who among AuLangzeb's Hindu contemporaries wrote this letter, the ideas in it are interesting. The text contrasts Aurangzeb's intolerance with the liberal policies of earlier Moglmls (^\kban Jahangir. Shah Jahan), and then says: "If Your Majesty places any faith in those books by distinction called divine, you will there be instructed that God is the (iod of all mankind, not the God of Muslims alone. The Pagan and the Muslim are equally in His presence in fme, the tribute you demand from the Hindus is repugnant tojustice."

t is important to recognize that he subject of tolerance was many of these historical leadmuch discussed by many ers in Asia not only emphawriters during this period sized the importance of freeol' confrontation between dom and tolerance, they also had clear the religious traditions and their associtheories as to why this is the appropriated politics. One of the earliest writers ate thing to do. This would apply very on this subject was the eleventh century strongly to Ashoka and Akbar. Since the Iranian writer Alberuni, who came to Islamic tradition is sometimes seen as India with the invading army of Mahbeing monolithic, this is particularly mood of Ghazni and recorded his revulimportant to emphasize in the case of sion at the atrocities committed by the Akbar. Akbar was a Muslim emperor w'ho invaders. He proceeded to study Indian was deeply interested in Hindu philososociet), culture, religion, and ideas (his phy and culture, and he also took much translations of Indian mathematical and interest in the beliefs and practices of astronomital treatises were quite infhiother religions, including Christianity, ential in the Arab world, which in turn Jainism and the Parsee faith. In fact, he was deeply influential on Western mathalso attempted to establish something of ematics), and he also wrote on the subAurangzeb's son, also called Akbar, ject of the intolerance of the tmfamiliar. a synthetic religion for India, the Din lUihi, drawing on the different faiths in rebelled againsi his father in 1681 and joined hands in diis enterprise with the the cotintry. Hindu kingdoms in Rajasthan and later ... ill all TiiaTiiu-rs and usages, |tlic Hindus] difler iioin us to such a degree as to There is an interesting contrast here the Marathas. (Akbar's rebellion was ultifrighten their children with us, with our between Ashoka's and Akbar's forms of mately crushed by Aurangzeb.) While dress, and our ways and nistoTiis, and as to religious tolerance. Both stood for reli- fighting from Rajasthan, Akbar wrote dcclart" us to be deviTs hreed. and our gious tolerance by the state, and both to his father, protesting his intolerance doings as ihe very oppo.site of all that is argued for tolerance as a virttie to be and his vilification of his Hindu friends. good and pioper. By the bye, we must conIndeed, the issue of the tolerance of practiced by all. But Ashoka combined fess, in order to be jusl, that a similar differences was a subject of considerable this with his own Rudtlhist pursuits (and depreciation of foreigners not only prevails tried to spread its "enlightenment" at discussion among the feuding parlies. among us and (he Hindus, bul is common home and abroad), while Akbar tried to The father of the Maratha king. Raja to all nations towards carh othci\ "combine" the distinct religions of India, Sambhaji, whom the young Akbar had incorporating the "good points" of dif- joined, was none other than Shivaji, The point of discussing all this now ferent religions. Akbar's court was filled wht)m the present-day Hindti political is to demonstrate the presence of conwith Hindu as well as Muslim intellectu- activists treat as a super-hero, and after scious theorizing abotit tolerance and als, artists, and musicians, and he tried whom the intolerant Hindu party Shiv freedom in substantial atid iniportani in every way to be nonsectarian and iair Sena is named. parts of the Asian traditions. We could in the treatment of his subjects. Shivaji took quite a tolerant view of consider manv more illustrations of this
38 T i i r N F W RrPtiHI-IC JULY 14 & 21, 1997

phenomenon from writings in early Arabic, ("binese, Indian and other cultures. Again, the championing of deriHxracN and political freedom in the modern sense cannot be found in the prc'-enlighiennient tradition in any part of the world. West or East. What we have to investigate, instead, are the constituents, the components, of this compotind idea. It is the jjowerlul presence of some of ihese elementsin non-Western as well as Western societiesthat 1 have been emphasizing. It is hard to make sense of the view that ilie basic ideas underlying freedom and rights in a tolerant society are "Western" notions, and somehow alien to Asia, though tbat view has been championed l)\- Asian authoritarians and VVestern < lianvinists. V. wonld like to conchide with a rather different issne, which is sometimes linked to the debate about the nature and ilie reach of Asian \alues. The championing of Asian values is often associated wilh the need to resist Western begeiiiom. The linkage of the two issues, which has increasingly occurred in recent years, uses the political force of anticolonialistn to buttress the assanlt on civil and poliiical rigbts in post-colonial Asia. This linkage, iliough quite artillcial, c[ui be rheioiically quite effective. Thus Lee Kuan Yew has emphasized the special nature of Asian values, and has made powerful use of the general case lor resisting Western hegemony to bolster the aigimient for Asian particularism. The rhetoric has extended to the a[>parenil\' defiant declaration that Singapoie is "not a client slate of America." I his fac t is certainly undeniable, and it is an excx'llent reascjii lor cheer, but the cjuestion that has to be asked is what this has to do with the issue of human rights and political liberties in Singapore, or any other country in Asia. The people whose political and oilier I ights are involved in this debate are not c iti/ens of the West, but of Asian cotintries. The fact lliat individual liberty may have been championed in Western writings, and even by some Western political leaders, can scarcely compromise the claim to liberty tbat |)eople in Asia may oiherwise possess. As a matter of fact, one iiiav grumble, with reason, that the political leaders of Western c:ounuies take far too /////('interest in issues of lieedom in the rest of the world. There is plenty of evidence that the Western governments have tended to give priority to the interests of their own citizens engaged in commerce wilh the Asian

countries and to the pressures generated by business groups lo be on good terms wilh the ruling governments in Asia. It is not that there has been more bark than bite; there has been very little bark, too. WTiat Mao once described as a "paper tiger" looks increasingly like a paper mouse. But even if this were not the case, and even if it were true that Western governments try to promote political and civil rights in Asia, bow can that possibly compromise the status of the rights of Asians? In (his context, the idea of "human rights" has to be properly understood. In the most general form, the notion of human rights builds on our shared htnnanity. These rights are not derived from citizenship in any country, or membeisbip in any nation. They are taken as eiilitlements of every human being. These rights differ, therefore, from constitutionally c reated rights guaranteed for specifiecl people (such as American citizens or French nationals). The htnnan right of a person not to be tortured is affiiniecl independently of the couniry of vvliirh this person is a cilizen, and also irrespective of what die go\erninent of that conntryor any other countrywants to do. Of course, a government can dispute a person's legal right not to be tortnred, but that

will not amonnt to disputing what must be seen as the person's human right not to be tortnred. Since the conception of human rigbts transcends local legislation and tlur citizenship of the individual, the support for htunan rights can come from anyonewhether or not she i.s a citizen of the same country as the individual whose rights are threatened. A foreigner does not need the permission of a repressive governmeni to ii\ to help a person whose liberties are being violated. Indeed, insofar as himian lights are seen as rights that any person has as a human being (and not as a citizen of any parliculai' conniry). ihe reach of ihe corresponding duties can also inchide any human being (irrespective of citizenship). This basic recognition does not suggest, of course, tbat everyone must intervene constantly in protecting and helping others. That may be both ineffective and unsettling. There is no escape from the need to employ practical reason in this field, any more ihau in any olhei' field of hiinian action. L'bic]uitous interveniionism is not particularly fruitful or attractive within a given nation, nor is it across national boundaries. There is no obligation to roam the four corners of the earth in search of

Is it ever wise to improve on perfection?

Fujiyama 2*"" Ceramic Pen

and still only $39^*
olk wiMJom h.is it that it's -^elddm wist' to fix what isn't broken and to iittempt to improve on perftvlion. It is therefore with same trepFujiyama idation that we introduce tlie h'ujii/ania 2'"' Cerninic Pen, ("son of 2"" Ceramic fu'jiyama'") after iiavinj; sold over 15(1,000of the original in thf lasl PedisjiJi d'jeci few yc'iirs. Many believe that the Fiijiynnni 2"" Ceramic Penmade nf hvitfti. Mnmj ill Asia and with a cartridge that is the finest product of German iiiiiv cnilaS it Ihf stationery technologyis the most handsome and best-writing itltimale writpen in the world. Fujiyama 2"" has stunning hi-lacquer guning machine." Il motal finish, fine gold-plated accents and snappy clip. It ha eoiitaius a la r y f perfect heft and feel and, of course, just like its predecessor, G f r m an- m a li e it writes like a dream. And with its new cushioned ceramic-ball cartridge. Turhiii^ri['"'\wh\ch lets you write for hours without tiring, 11 lioliif lots of ink, this pen has now been b r o u g h t to the e d g e of the i'jj(ity/( (il irrile main/ Iti21st c e n t u r y . (t'j's luid jiii'iuo.'^. Ai an added The most remarkable thing about the Fuiitfama 2'" seri'ice, we include two extra Ceramic Pen is its price. We are the exclusive importers refill cartridges wilh each pen. and distributors of Fujiyama stationery in tbe LJnited States and are therefore able to bring you this updated model still af the same old price of just 539.95. But we have an even better deal: Buy two for $79.90, ami ive'U send you a third one, with our compliitientsabsolutely FREE! Discard those tacky ballpoint pens and those clumsy felt tips. Write smoothly and easily, give character andgtKxJ appearance to your writing. And make a reallygreat buy, an even greater one if you take advantage of our 3-for-2 "better deal". Get with itget your hujn/niiui 2"" Ceramic Pciif>) today! ft>r customer servia' iimt wk^Lsale on.1> please call hX)R FASTEST SFRVICE, ORDHK 41!v54;V6675. VU" can apply your company logi) ti) TOLL FREE (800) 797-7367 Rijiytmia 2'" I'tri'i on niiiiinmm tjiuntitil's of Ul] units. 24 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week. Flease give order #1049C988 for Fujiyama 2'"' Ceramic PiVifsJ. We need daytime phone # for all orders. Add $4.95 standard shipping/insurance charge (plus sales tax for California delivery). You have 30-day refund and one-year warrantv. We do not refund shipping charges. 185 Berry Street, San Francisco. CA 94107

read this ad for an even better deal!

h c

JULY 14 & 21, 1997 TilK NHW

C 39

liberties to protect. My claim is only that the barriers of nationality and citizenship do not preclude people from taking legitimate interest in tlie rights of t)thers and even from assuming some duties related to them. Tlie moral and political examination that is central to determining how one sliould act applies across national boundaries, and not merely within them. To conclude, the so-called Asian values that are invoked to justily authoritarianism are not especially Asian in any significant sense. Nor is it easy to see how they could be made, by the tncre force of rhetoric, into an Asian cause against the West. The people whose rights are being disputed arc Asians, and, no matter what the West's guilt may be (there are many skeletons in many closets throughout the world), the rights of Asians can scarcely be compromised on tbose grounds. The case for liberty and political rights turns ultimately on their basic importance and on their instrumental role. And this case is as strong in Asia as it is elsewhere. There is a great deal that we can learn from studies of values in Asia and Eur-

ope, but they do not stipport or sustain the thesis of a grand dichotomy (or a "clash of civilizations"). Our ideas of political and personal rights have taken their particular form relatively recentIv, and it Is hard lo see them as "traditional" commitments of Western cultures. There are important antecedents of those commitments, but those antecedents can be found plentifully in Asian cultures as well as Western cultures. The recognition of diversity within different cultures is extremely important in the contemporary world, since we are constantly bombarded by oversimple generali/alions about "Western civilization," "Asian values," "African cultures," and so on. These unfounded readings of history and civilization are not only intellectually shallow, they also add to ihe divisivenessof the world in which we live. The aiuhoritarian readings of Asian valnes that are increasingly championed in some quarters do not survive scrutiny. And the grand dichommy between Asian values and European values adds litde to our imderstanding, and mnch to the confounding of the normative basis of freedom anci clemocracv.

Stasi. By most accounts this smoothest of operators, who was East Germany's spymaster for almost lbrty years, is excellent company. So what n'a.s this nice, thonghtfui, cultivated, handsome maii doing with all those fat-necked "heads of concrete"? here is a magical moment in Marcel Ophuls's November Days, his dociunentaiy about the fall of the Berlin Wall, when he interviews Wolf al the great spy's dacha. Wolf waves away any suggestion that he knew anything abont the building of the Wall, or about toiture in Stasi jails, or abont blackmailing people. .,^11 that was done by others. He, Wolt, was a gentleman doing his dut\'. Opluils then decides, quite deliberately, to play the |ewish caicl. Both men grew up in Ciermany, wilh |ewish fathers, who were forced lo escape the NazisWolf's father, Friedrich, took his family to Moscow; Marcel's father. Max, took his family to Hollywood. Ophuls tries to shame Wolf by comparing him lo Klaus Barbie. The ploy doesn't work. Wolf simply denies that lie ever used, or countenanced the use of, violence. Quite the contrary, he says. The trouble with him is that he was always too naive, too trusting. He smiles sweetly, accepts a cigarette, sits back and prepares to laimch into an amusing anecdote about compromising an enemy of the people with a girl. Ophuls watches him qtiietly, sadlv, and we hear the nuisic from one oi' his father's IIolK-wood movies. "Listening to you," he says, "I think to myself. Marcel, how lucky you are. Our fathers had the same ideas. Who wasn't on the left in the Weimar Republic? But how lucky I am that the film director. Max Ophuls, decided to move West instead of East." But this lets Wolf off the hook too easily. It suggests that he w'as entii'ely a victim of circmnstanccs, a man whose life was plotted for him, a helpless refugee trapped in Stalin's empire. Yon almost forget that there were many other commimist relugees who left the Soviet bloc (if they hadn't been killed iii some purge), and few, if any, of them became Stasi generals. Yet the idea rather tickles Wolf's own fancy. Yes, he says, Ophnis might well have a point. Wolf, in his book, which serves no one so well as himself, is always the humble servant of a kind of moral force mojemr: superior orders, the higher call of dut\\ patriotism, idealism, and so forth. But here he gives Ins tale a particular spin, clearly aimed at hooking oiu' sympathies: it is the argiunent of A/// Withuiil a Fact that the story of Markus Wolf is the story of a good |ew who spent his whole life fighting fascism.

Wolf in Wolfs Clothing

BY IAN BURUMA

Man Without a Face: The Autobiography of Communism's Greatest Spymaster by Markus Wolf with Anne McElvoy
(Times Books, 352 pp., $25)

\ \eii the most revolting regimes usually have at least one dapper little charmer in their highest ranks, the type of guy who gives wickedness a human face, a well-mannered, well-dressed, well-edncated diner with the devil. Such figuresAlbert Speer, say, or Zhou Enlaihold a special fascination for nuun people. They pertbrm a triple function. For a start, they make it easier to justif)' one's own fellow-liavelling follies. If Maoism was good enough for a nice man like Zhou, why then should I feel bad about having admired the little red book myselP Or, a variation on the theme: if Maoism was good enough for a nice man like /lion, it can't have been all bad. Then there is the glamour attached to the elegant rogue. The snave gangster with impeccable manners and a fine library is a sexier, tnore mysterious fig40 THE NEW REPUBLIC JULY 14 & 21,1997

ure than the uncouth thug. The exqtiisitc extetior, hiding a heart of darkness: What greater frisson can one desire? And the third reason for onr fascination with these smoothies is that they make us wonder what such sophisticates arc doing in the company of gangsters, murderers and oppressors. The perplexity, of course, is naive. .-Xfter all, why sbonld murderers or oppressors be men without breeding or taste? Hans Frank, the Nazi slaveTnaster in Cracow, is said to have played Chopin beautifully. Still, onr belief in the redeeming power of culture keeps us wondering. Not every member of the former East German Ministry of State Security (Stasi) was a gangster, but most were certainh' less than couth. This is why the subject at hand, the man whose face we now know well. General Markus "Mischa" Wolf, stands out. He is the Speer, the Zhou, the Dapper Don of the