Sun Yat Sen Chiang Kai Shek Lee Kuan Yew and Park Chung Hee - Asian Autocratic Nation Builders - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#14740908
For many years I have tried to understand where Sun Yat Sen, Chiang Kai Shek, Lee Kuan Yew and Park Chung Hee would fit on the Western political spectrum. They were unique leaders and did not have politics that can easily be quantified in European terms because they were heavily influenced by Confucian values. I admire all of these men and what they achieved for their countries. Say what you will about Chiang, he made Taiwan into an industrial country with a relatively high standard of living that endures till this day. None of them indulged in crass racism but did not embrace rootless cosmopolitanism either. They were pragmatic and strong leaders. When Lee Kuan Yew passed away in 2015 I felt quite sad. No other leader's death has ever made me feel such an emotion.

Chiang Kai Shek appears to have been a social conservative, albeit one who also had some interest in socialist ideas. Although I once thought he was a fascist, I do not think he was right wing enough to warrant such a designation. I would say he was an authoritarian centrist.

Lee Kuan Yew also had socialist and conservative tendencies. The logo of the Peoples Action Party (PAP) has a flash and circle almost identical to that of Oswald Mosley's political parties. This leads me to wonder if he may have picked up fascist ideas in England when he studied there after WWII, but who knows? I still think he was also an authoritarian centrist.

Sun Yat Sen was socially conservative but he had a strong desire to radically alter the Chinese political system and so he was a radical. It is known that he was influenced by socialist economic ideas but also wanted China to become a liberal democracy. I would not call him a far left activist even though he cooperated with the CCP. Like the others I classify him as a centrist.

Park Chung Hee served with the Japanese armed forces. It is believed that he was influenced by their ideology. I would classify him as far right.

My designations are quite arbitrary and mainly useful for purposes of my own political taxonomy. I'd be interested in being corrected or having my designations affirmed.
#14740915
Sun Yat Sen was not anywhere close to being a social conservative. He fought against the socially conservative imperial dynasty in order to install a democratic welfare state.

Chiang Kai Shek did not make Taiwan into a modernized industrial nation. He just gets the credit for the hard work of his subjects. He was a noteworthy general however. He defeated the Soviet Union once, and the Communists 5 times.

All the military regime in Korea did was lighten up on bullshit. There was nothing revolutionary about the countries turn around.
Last edited by Mercenary on 22 Nov 2016 13:04, edited 1 time in total.
#14741154
These guys were all products of social Darwinist historical materialism, a toxic combination that justified imperialism on racial and cultural grounds. China, Singapore and nationalist China were all responding to historical developments totally beyond their control, and utilized nationalist modernising state capitalism to do so. They also were all hugely corrupt authoritarians, as the thread suvgests. These people must be understood as authoritarian reactionaries, exerting a doctrine of economic self sufficiency in response to outside challenges.

Tldr they're the east Asian versions of enver pasha. Their ideologies are essentially the product of a fear of national weakness viewed through a social darwinist lens.

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