Module 4

I. Colonially Influenced Asian Thoughts (Religious, Political, Economic,

Cultural)
A. Christianity
B. Constitutional Democracy
C. National Communism
D. Liberalism
E. Capitalism
F. Socialism
G. Communism
H. Western Education
I. Gender Justice

Overview

This is the part of the lesson where the topics tackled are the religious, political,
economic and cultural Asian thoughts have been influenced by the colonizers that set foot in
different parts of Asia which brought new ideas and ideologies such as Christianity,
Constitutional Democracy, National Communism, Liberalism, Capitalism, Socialism,
Communism, Western Education, and Gender Justice.

Activity 1. Engaged Participation. Assess the students’ knowledge on Christianity,

Constitutional Democracy, National Communism, Liberalism, Capitalism, Socialism,
Communism, Western Education, and Gender Justice through question and answer.

National Constitutional
Communism Democracy

Liberalism
Christianity
Colonially
Influenced
Asian Thoughts
Capitalism Socialism

Western
Education Communism
Gender
Justice

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

Learning Outcomes

1) Discuss through a Buzz Session the salient “Whys” and strategic “Hows” of the West
in colonizing Asian countries;
2) Discuss through the Concept Maps the concepts of Asian thoughts as influenced by
western colonization;
3) Show through a matrix the different political set up of Asian countries during colonial
times;
4) Exhibit through a Slide Show with a theme "Before” and “After” the changes of
political practice in selected Asian countries;
5) Discuss through a not less than 500-word essay how the interplay of traditional
governance and colonial power influenced politics of Asian countries; and
6) Discuss through a Power Point presentation the major changes that took place in
selected Asian countries upon falling as colonies of the West.

Content/Discussion

Colonially Influenced Asian Thoughts

A. Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of
Jesus of Nazareth. Its adherents, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Christ,
whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Hebrew Bible, called the Old
Testament in Christianity, and chronicled in the New Testament.
Christianity is a major religion stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus
of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century CE. It has become
the largest of the world’s religions and, geographically, the most widely diffused of all faiths.
It has a constituency of more than two billion believers. Its largest groups are the Roman
Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Protestant churches. The Oriental
Orthodox churches constitute one of the oldest branches of the tradition but had been out of
contact with Western Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy from the middle of the 5th century
until the late 20th century because of a dispute over Christology (the doctrine of Jesus
Christ’s nature and significance). Significant movements within the broader Christian world
and sometimes transcending denominational boundaries are Pentecostalism, Charismatic
Christianity, Evangelicalism, and fundamentalism. In addition, there are numerous
independent churches throughout the world. 
A second element of the faith tradition of Christianity, with rare exceptions, is a plan of
salvation or redemption. That is to say, the believers in the church picture themselves as in
a plight from which they need rescue. For whatever reason, they have been distanced from
God and need to be saved. Christianity is based on a particular experience or scheme
directed to the act of saving – that is, of bringing or “buying back,” which is part of what
redemption means, these creatures of God to their source in God. The agent of that
redemption is Jesus Christ.
B. Constitutional Democracy
In a Constitutional Democracy the authority of the majority is limited by legal and
institutional means so that the rights of individuals and minorities are respected. This is the
form of democracy practiced in Germany, Israel, Japan, the United States, and other
countries.
Constitutional Democracy is the antithesis of arbitrary rule. It is democracy characterized by:

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 1) Popular Sovereignty. The people are the ultimate source of the authority of the
government which derives its right to govern from their consent.
2) Majority Rule and Minority Rights. Although "the majority rules," the fundamental rights of
individuals in the minority are protected.
3) Limited Government. The powers of government are limited by law and a written or
unwritten constitution which those in power obey.
4) Institutional and Procedural Limitations on Powers. There are certain institutional and
procedural devices which limit the powers of government. These may include:
a. Separated and Shared Powers. Powers are separated among different agencies or
branches of government. Each agency or branch has primary responsibility for certain
functions such as legislative, executive, and judicial functions. However, each branch also
shares these functions with the other branches.
b. Checks and Balances. Different agencies or branches of government have adequate
power to check the powers of other branches. Checks and balances may include the power
of judicial review—the power of courts to declare actions of other branches of government to
be contrary to the constitution and therefore null and void.
c. Due Process of Law. Individual rights to life, liberty, and property are protected by the
guarantee of due process of law.
d. Leadership Succession through Elections. Elections ensure that key positions in
government will be contested at periodic intervals and that the transfer of governmental
authority is accomplished in a peaceful and orderly process.
The Fundamental Values of Constitutional Democracy. The fundamental values of
constitutional democracy reflect a paramount concern with human dignity and the worth and
value of each individual:
1. Basic Rights. Protection of certain basic or fundamental rights is the primary goal of
government. These rights may be limited to life, liberty, and property, or they may be
extended to include such economic and social rights as employment, health care and
education. Documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the African Charter on Human and
People's Rights enumerate and explain these rights.
2. Freedom of Conscience and Expression. A constitutional democracy includes among its
highest purposes the protection of freedom of conscience and freedom of expression. These
freedoms have value both for the healthy functioning and preservation of constitutional
democracy and for the full development of the human personality.
3. Privacy and Civil Society. Constitutional democracies recognize and protect the integrity
of a private and social realm comprised of family, personal, religious, and other associations
and activities. This space of uncoerced human association is the basis of a civil society free
from unfair and unreasonable intrusions by government.
4. Justice. A constitutional democracy promotes
 Distributive Justice. The fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of society.
 Corrective Justice. Fair and proper responses to wrongs and injuries.
 Procedural Justice. The use of fair procedures in the gathering of information and
the making of decisions by all agencies of government and, most particularly, by law
enforcement agencies and the courts.
5. Equality. A constitutional democracy promotes
 Political Equality. All citizens are equally entitled to participate in the political system. 
 Equality Before the Law. The law does not discriminate on the basis of unreasonable
and unfair criteria such as gender, age, race, ethnicity, religious or political beliefs
and affiliations, class or economic status. The law applies to the governors as well as
the governed.

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

  Economic Equality. Constitutional democracies have differing conceptions of the
meaning and importance of economic equality. At the very least, they agree that all
citizens should have the right to an equal opportunity to improve their material
wellbeing. Some constitutional democracies also attempt to eliminate gross
disparities in wealth through such means as progressive taxation and social welfare
programs.
6. Openness. Constitutional democracies are based on a political philosophy of openness or
the free marketplace of ideas, the availability of information through a free press, and free
expression in all fields of human endeavor.
C. National Communism
National Communism refers to policies based on the principle that in each country
the means of attaining ultimate communist goals must be dictated by national conditions
rather than by a pattern set in another country. The term, popular from the late 1940s to the
1980s, was particularly identified with assertions by eastern European communists
regarding independence from Soviet leadership or example.
National communism also refers to the various forms in which communism has been
adopted and/or implemented by leaders in different countries. In each independent state,
empire, or dependency, the relationship between class and nation had its own
particularities. The Ukrainian communists Shakhrai and Mazlakh and then Muslim Sultan
Galiyev considered the interests of the Bolshevik Russian state at odds with those of their
countries. This was followed after 1945 by the Yugoslav communist lifelong president Josip
Broz Tito when he attempted to pursue an independent foreign policy.
What is now happening in Vietnam may well be only the beginning of a new
phase in the cold war, with the theater of operations shifting from Europe to Asia, and
with the United States trying to contain Communism there just as it sought to do in
Europe in the 1950's. For while Communism has been declining steadily in strength and
influence throughout Europe, in Asia it is a vital and growing force. Thus, the
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) has developed over the past decade from an
insignificant little group into the largest Communist party in the world outside the bloc; it
claims 3 million members and 17 million in front organizations. In what was once
Indochina, the Vietminh complex – which includes the Lao Dong party in North Vietnam,
the Neo Lao Hak Sat in Laos, and the National Liberation Front in South Vietnam –
seems well on its way to attaining power in the entire peninsula despite a heavy
investment of American money, advisers, and military equipment. In India, the
Communist party has remained through three general elections the major opposition to
the ruling Congress party; removed from power in Kerala by the central government in
1959, the Communists came back at the polls in 1960 with a staggering increase in
their electoral following and were only prevented from assuming power once again by
an anti-Communist electoral coalition of all the other major Kerala parties. Only in
Japan, a highly industrialized country, does Communism appear to be on the wane.
The Sino-Soviet conflict has split several of the Asian Communist parties, most
seriously in India and Ceylon, but for the most part the Asian Communists have firmly
lined up with Peking against both Moscow and the West. There has in fact come into
being a new Peking-led Asian Communist coalition – all the parties in southeast Asia,
the Korean and Japanese, and sizable portions of the divided Indian and Ceylonese
parties – which will loom large for at least the next decade and probably longer.
Perhaps the closest bond uniting this coalition is the objective of eliminating American
power and influence from Asia in order to expand Communist power and influence
there. This is one of several factors explaining their preference for Peking over Moscow.
The Russians have made it clear that Soviet interests require accommodation with the

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 United States and do not include taking risks of war to help the North Vietnamese,
North Koreans, and others achieve their goals. The Chinese, by contrast, have made it
equally clear that their interests require a continuing struggle against the United States
and that the struggle involves supporting “national liberation” wars against pro-Western
governments. This common desire to push the U.S. out of Asia could provide the basis
for a regional grouping of Asian parties if, as is likely, the efforts of the new Russian
leadership to contain the Sino-Soviet dispute should fail.
However, the ease with which Peking has drawn the Asian parties away from
Moscow cannot be explained only on strategic grounds, important as these are. The
Chinese revolution and Mao personally have enormous prestige throughout Asia,
particularly among the Communists. Ever since coming to power in 1949, the Chinese
Communists have worked hard at establishing direct links with other Asian parties;
Moscow was content with less direct channels of influence. Geographic propinquity, of
course, has also played a part; enabling the Chinese Communists to provide decisive
military aid to the Vietminh in the early 1950's during their war with the French and then
subsequently to the North Koreans during the Korean war. And finally, there is
Moscow's ignorance of Asia and its record of sacrificing local Communist interests to its
own national purposes.
But the turn of the Asian Communist parties away from Moscow and toward
Peking does not mean that the dynamism and vitality of Communism in Asia can be
interpreted as the result of a conspiracy directed from Peking. The truth is that the roots
of Asian Communism run deep and differ substantially from the roots of Communism in
Europe. In examining these roots, two main factors must be taken into account. One
has to do with historic ethnic and social cleavages, the other with the impact of Western
colonialism.
As to the first: few Asian countries are even remotely like the culturally
homogeneous national states which now exist in the West. For centuries most have
been divided by a bewildering variety of ethnic, religious, linguistic, and other
antipathies produced by uneven cultural development.
In India, rivalries between Hindu and Moslem, one Hindu caste and another, states
using different languages, north and south, etc. are endemic. In Burma, a civil war still
rages because of regional and ethnic hostility on the part of the Kachins, Karens, and
other minority groups toward the central government. Malaysia is a country in name
only; as the recent disturbances in Singapore showed, there is an uneasy balance
between the Malays who represent less than half the population, the Chinese who
comprise almost 40 per cent, and the indigenous natives in Sarawak and North Borneo.
In Indonesia, historical enmity between the outer islanders and the Javanese has
already brought a series of regional rebellions against Jakarta which, although
suppressed, are still smoldering. In Indochina, historic rivalries between the primitive,
animist hill tribes and the Buddhist lowlanders, and more recently between Catholics
and Buddhists, have made it difficult for any central government to consolidate itself.
And Ceylon's Sinhalese and Tamil communities are similarly divided by language, race,
caste, and religion.
In some cases, colonialism exacerbated particularist loyalties by drawing artificial
national boundaries. Where colonial rule mitigated these loyalties, the effect was of too
short duration to outlast independence. After independence, ambitious politicians began
to fan the flames of these age-old feuds. In 1954, speaking at a conference convoked to
consider the claims of India's various language groups, Nehru called the depth and
vitality of communal passions an “eye-opener” for the nationalists in the Congress party;
he spoke of “sixty years of Congress” against centuries of Indian history. The outcome
was that Nehru had to acknowledge the claims of Indian language groups to represent

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 cultural units with a flourishing sub-nationalism of their own.
D. Liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the
governed and equality before the law. The term liberalism is derived from the Latin
root liberalism, meaning free. For the new middle classes, liberalism stood for freedom for
individual and equality of all before the law.  Liberal nationalism, also known as civic
nationalism or civil nationalism, is a kind of nationalism identified by political philosophers.
Liberalism is a political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of
the individual to be the central problem of politics. Liberals typically believe
that government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others, but they
also recognize that government itself can pose a threat to liberty. As the revolutionary
American pamphleteer Thomas Paine expressed it in Common Sense (1776), government
is at best “a necessary evil.” Laws, judges, and police are needed to secure the individual’s
life and liberty, but their coercive power may also be turned against him. The problem, then,
is to devise a system that gives government the power necessary to protect individual
liberty but also prevents those who govern from abusing that power.
Liberalism is derived from two related features of Western culture. The first is the
West’s preoccupation with individuality, as compared to the emphasis in other civilizations
on status, caste, and tradition. Throughout much of history, the individual has been
submerged in and subordinate to his clan, tribe, ethnic group, or kingdom. Liberalism is the
culmination of developments in Western society that produced a sense of the importance of
human individuality, a liberation of the individual from complete subservience to the group,
and a relaxation of the tight hold of custom, law, and authority. In this respect, liberalism
stands for the emancipation of the individual.
Liberalism is also derived from the practice of adversariality in European political and
economic life, a process in which institutionalized competition – such as the competition
between different political parties in electoral contests, between prosecution and defense
in adversary procedure, or between different producers in a market economy (see monopoly
and competition) – generates a dynamic social order. Adversarial systems have always
been precarious, however, and it took a long time for the belief in adversariality to emerge
from the more traditional view, traceable at least to Plato, that the state should be an organic
structure, like a beehive, in which the different social classes cooperate by performing
distinct yet complementary roles. The belief that competition is an essential part of a political
system and that good government requires a vigorous opposition was still considered
strange in most European countries in the early 19th century.
Underlying the liberal belief in adversariality is the conviction that human beings are
essentially rational creatures capable of settling their political disputes through dialogue and
compromise. This aspect of liberalism became particularly prominent in 20th-century
projects aimed at eliminating war and resolving disagreements between states through
organizations such as the League of Nations, the United Nations, and the International
Court of Justice (World Court).
Liberalism has a close but sometimes uneasy relationship with democracy. At the
center of democratic doctrine is the belief that governments derive their authority from
popular election; liberalism, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with the scope of
governmental activity. Liberals often have been wary of democracy, then, because of fears
that it might generate a tyranny by the majority. One might briskly say, therefore, that
democracy looks after majorities and liberalism after unpopular minorities.
Like other political doctrines, liberalism is highly sensitive to time and circumstance.
Each country’s liberalism is different, and it changes in each generation. The historical
development of liberalism over recent centuries has been a movement from mistrust of the
state’s power on the ground that it tends to be misused, to a willingness to use the power of

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 government to correct perceived inequities in the distribution of wealth resulting from
economic competition – inequities that purportedly deprive some people of an equal
opportunity to live freely. The expansion of governmental power and responsibility sought by
liberals in the 20th century was clearly opposed to the contraction of government advocated
by liberals a century earlier. In the 19th century liberals generally formed the party of
business and the entrepreneurial middle class; for much of the 20th century they were more
likely to work to restrict and regulate business in order to provide greater opportunities for
laborers and consumers. In each case, however, the liberals’ inspiration was the same: a
hostility to concentrations of power that threaten the freedom of the individual and prevent
him from realizing his full potential, along with a willingness to reexamine and reform social
institutions in the light of new needs. This willingness is tempered by an aversion to sudden,
cataclysmic change, which is what sets off the liberal from the radical. It is this very
eagerness to welcome and encourage useful change, however, that distinguishes the liberal
from the conservative, who believes that change is at least as likely to result in loss as in
gain.
E. Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of
production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include private
property and the recognition of property rights, capital accumulation, wage labor, voluntary
exchange, a price system, and competitive markets.
The production of goods and services is based on supply and demand in the general
market – known as a market economy – rather than through central planning – known as a
planned economy or command economy.
The purest form of capitalism is free market or laissez-faire capitalism. Here, private
individuals are unrestrained. They may determine where to invest, what to produce or sell,
and at which prices to exchange goods and services. The laissez-faire marketplace
operates without checks or controls.
Private property rights are fundamental to capitalism. Most modern concepts of
private property stem from John Locke's theory of homesteading, in which human beings
claim ownership through mixing their labor with unclaimed resources. Once owned, the only
legitimate means of transferring property are through voluntary exchange, gifts, inheritance,
or re-homesteading of abandoned property.
Private property promotes efficiency by giving the owner of resources an incentive to
maximize the value of their property. So, the more valuable the resource is, the more trading
power it provides the owner. In a capitalist system, the person who owns the property is
entitled to any value associated with that property.
Key Takeaways:
 Capitalism is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means
of production, especially in the industrial sector.
 Capitalism depends on the enforcement of private property rights, which provide
incentives for investment in and productive use of productive capital.
 Capitalism developed historically out of previous systems of feudalism and
mercantilism in Europe, and dramatically expanded industrialization and the large-
scale availability of mass-market consumer goods.
 Pure capitalism can be contrasted with pure socialism (where all means of
production are collective or state-owned) and mixed economies (which lie on a
continuum between pure capitalism and pure socialism).
 The real-world practice of capitalism typically involves some degree of so-called
“crony capitalism” due to demands from business for favorable government
intervention and governments’ incentive to intervene in the economy.

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 F. Socialism
Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates
that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by
the community as a whole.
Socialism is a political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range of
economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of production
and workers' self-management of enterprises. It includes the political theories and
movements associated with such systems
Socialism is a political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range
of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of
production and workers' self-management of enterprises. It includes the political theories
and movements associated with such systems.  Social ownership can
be public, collective, cooperative or of equity. While no single definition encapsulates
many types of socialism, social ownership is the one common element.
Socialist systems are divided into non-market and market forms.  Non-market
socialism substitutes factor markets and money with integrated economic planning and
engineering or technical criteria based on calculation performed in-kind, thereby producing a
different economic mechanism that functions according to different economic
laws and dynamics than those of capitalism.  A non-market socialist system eliminates
the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and
the profit system in capitalism. The socialist calculation debate, originated by the economic
calculation problem, concerns the feasibility and methods of resource allocation for
a planned socialist system. By contrast, market socialism retains the use of monetary prices,
factor markets and in some cases the profit motive, with respect to the operation of socially
owned enterprises and the allocation of capital goods between them. Profits generated by
these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm or accrue to society at
large in the form of a social dividend.
Socialist politics has been both internationalist and nationalist in orientation; organized
through political parties and opposed to party politics; at times overlapping with trade unions
and at other times independent and critical of them; and present in both industrialized and
developing nations.  Social democracy originated within the socialist
movement, supporting economic and social interventions to promote social justice. While
retaining socialism as a long-term goal, since the post-war period it has come to embrace
a Keynesian mixed economy within a predominantly developed capitalist market economy
and liberal democratic polity that expands state intervention to include income
redistribution, regulation and a welfare state. Economic democracy proposes a sort of
market socialism, with more democratic control of companies, currencies, investments, and
natural resources.
G. Communism
Communism is a philosophical, social, political, economic ideology and movement
whose ultimate goal is the establishment of a communist society, namely a socioeconomic
order structured upon the ideas of common ownership of the means of production and the
absence of social classes, money and the state. 
Communism is a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and
leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned, and each person works and is
paid according to their abilities and needs.
An early distinction between communism and socialism was that the latter aimed to
only socialize production while the former aimed to socialize both production and

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 consumption (in the form of free access to final goods).
Communism is political and economic doctrine that aims to replace
private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of
at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural
resources of a society. Communism is thus a form of socialism – a higher and more
advanced form, according to its advocates. Exactly how communism differs from socialism
has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the
communists’ adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx.
H. Western Education
Western Education is a replacement to primitive style of learning which emphasizes
formal method of classroom education for all and sundry and is based on communication in
writing, reading and numeric. It is an education system that is characterized by the process
of assimilation and learning of the customs and practices of western culture. 
From the mid-17th century to the closing years of the 18th century, new social,
economic, and intellectual forces steadily quickened – forces that in the late 18th and the
19th centuries would weaken and, in many cases, end the old aristocratic absolutism. The
European expansion to new worlds overseas had stimulated commercial rivalry. The new
trade had increased national wealth and encouraged a sharp rise in the numbers and
influence of the middle classes. These social and economic transformations – joined with
technological changes involving the steam engine and the factory system – together
produced industrialism, urbanization, and the beginnings of mass labor. At the same time,
intellectuals and philosophers were assaulting economic abuses, old unjust privileges,
misgovernment, and intolerance. Their ideas, which carried a new emphasis on the worth of
the individual – the citizen rather than the subject – helped to inspire political revolutions,
sometimes successful, sometimes unsuccessful. But, more importantly, they worked to
make it impossible for any government – even the most reactionary – to disregard for long
the welfare of common people. Finally, there was a widespread psychological change:
people’s confidence in their power to use resources, master nature, and structure their own
future was heightened beyond anything known before, and this confidence on a national
scale – in the form of nationalism – moved all groups to struggle for the freedom to direct
their own affairs.
All these trends influenced the progress of education. One of the most significant
results was the gradual acceptance of the view that education ought to be the responsibility
of the state. Some countries, such as France and Germany, were inspired by a mixture of
national aspiration and ideology to begin the establishment of public educational systems
early in the 19th century. Others, such as Great Britain and the United States, under the
spell of laissez-faire, hesitated longer before allowing the government to intervene in
educational affairs. The school reformers in these countries had to combat the prevailing
notion that “free schools” were to be provided only for pauper children, if at all; and they had
to convince society that general taxation upon the whole community was the only adequate
way to provide education for all the children of all the people.
The new social and economic changes also called upon the schools, public and
private, to broaden their aims and curricula. Schools were expected not only to promote
literacy, mental discipline, and good moral character but also to help prepare children for
citizenship, for jobs, and for individual development and success. Although
teaching methods remained oriented toward textbook memorizing and strict discipline, a
more sympathetic attitude toward children began to appear. As the numbers of pupils grew
rapidly, individual methods of “hearing recitations” by children began to give way to group
methods. The monitorial system, also called the Lancastrian system, became popular
because, in the effort to overcome the shortage of teachers during the quick expansion of
education, it enabled one teacher to use older children to act as monitors in teaching

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

 specific lessons to younger children in groups. Similarly, the practice of dividing children into
grades or classes according to their ages – a practice that began in 18th-century Germany –
was to spread everywhere as schools grew larger.
I. Gender Justice
Charrad defines gender justice as bringing about more equitable relations between
men and women with the implication that women become defined as equal citizens with
equal autonomy and rights in the social order.
Gender justice is often used with reference to emancipatory projects that advance
women's rights though legal change or promote women's interests in social and economic
policy. However, the term is rarely given a precise definition and is often used
interchangeably with notions of gender equality, gender equity, women's empowerment, and
women's rights.
Any definition of gender justice betrays a political position, a set of convictions about
what is 'right' and 'good' in human relationships, and how these desirable outcomes may be
achieved. Ideologies and conventions about women's subordination to men and the family
are often rooted in assumptions about what is 'natural' or 'divinely ordained' in human
relationships. The implication is that the interpretations of the terms are simply not amenable
to human improvement. These perspectives on women's rightful subordination are
legitimated not by appeals to justice but by socially embedded convictions about honor and
propriety – convictions felt to be beyond the realm of justice. It is not surprising, therefore,
that concepts of gender justice that seek to enhance women's autonomy or rights in relation
to men are controversial and arouse intense debate.
This is not the only reason they are controversial. Different understandings of the
means for achieving gender justice also impose competing roles and expectations on
national and international powerholders. Therefore, on the one hand there is an implied
minimal role for the state as a guarantor of basic liberties, whereas on the other there is
room for an interventionist role for states as well as an international system, so as to
compensate for past injustices and provide concrete welfare benefits to those suffering from
gender-based deprivation. Such varying interpretations of the role of governments and the
public sector, and of the legitimate expectations of members of national 'imagined'
communities or international 'virtual' communities, produce very different qualities of
citizenship. Therefore, the terms and conditions of membership of national communities, the
entitlements, and obligations of citizens, become part of the debate on the meaning of
gender justice.
Gender justice includes unique elements that go beyond related concepts of justice in
class or race terms, which complicate both its definition and enactment. First, women cannot
be identified as a coherent group along with other sets of disempowered people such as
ethnic minorities or socially excluded immigrants. Gender cuts across these and all other
social categories, producing differences of interests – and conceptions of justice – between
women. Second, unlike any other social group, relationships between women and men in
the family and community are a key site of gender-specific injustice, and therefore any
strategy to advance gender justice must focus on power relations in the domestic or 'private'
context. Third, the patriarchal mindsets and social relations that are produced in the private
sphere are not contained there, but infuse most economic, social, and political institutions.
Indeed, the term gender justice provides a direct reminder of this problem of institutionalized
bias by reminding us that justice itself, in its conception and administration, is very often
gendered, responding to a patriarchal standard derived from the domestic arena.

Evaluation. 

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

Activity 2. Buzz Session. Through a Buzz Session, discuss the salient “Whys” and
strategic “Hows” of the West in colonizing Asian countries.
Rubrics for assessment:
Interactive Participation = 25%
Organization of Thought = 25%
Content = 50%
Total:100%

Activity 3. Concept Maps. Discuss through the Concept Maps the concepts of Asian
thoughts as influenced by western colonization.
Rubrics for the evaluation of presentation of the Concept Map:
Organization of Thought = 20%
Clarity of Discussion = 20%
Grammar = 10%
Report Content = 50%
Total = 100%

Activity 4. Matrix-Making. Show through a matrix the different political set up of Asian
countries during colonial times.
Rubrics for Evaluation:
Mechanics (Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization, Format, etc.) = 50%
Content = 50%
Total = 100%

Activity 5. Slide Show Clip.Exhibit through a Slide Show with a theme "Before” and “After” the
changes of political practice in selected Asian countries
Rubrics for Evaluation:
Organization = 25%
Creativity/Editing Skills = 25%
Content = 50%
Total = 100%

Activity 6. Essay Writing. Discuss through a not less than 500-word essay how the interplay
of traditional governance and colonial power influenced politics of Asian countries.
Rubrics for Evaluation:
Mechanics (Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation, Capitalization, Format, etc.) = 50%
Content = 50%
Total = 100%

Activity 7. Power Point Presentation. Discuss through a Power Point presentation the major
changes that took place in selected Asian countries upon falling as colonies of the West.
Rubrics for Assessment:
Organization = 25%
Creativity/Editing Skills = 25%
Content = 50%
Total = 100%

References

Christianity. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity (August 30, 2020).

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4

Christianity. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-
medieval/christianity/v/jesus-christ-and-christianity (August 30, 2020).
Constitutional Democracy. https://www.civiced.org/lesson-plans/constitutional-democracy
(August 26, 2020).
Gender Justice. https://www.globalfundforwomen.org/gender-justice/ (August 30, 2020).
Gender Justice.
https://www.oxfam.org/en/what-we-do/issues/gender-justice-and-womens-rights. (August
30, 2020).
Jim Chappelow. Capitalism. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/capitalism.asp
(August 30, 2020).
Kenneth Minogue. Liberalism. https://www.britannica.com/topic/liberalism (August 30,
2020).
Lord William Bentick. Western Education.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/Social-reconstructionist-education
(August 26, 2020).
National Communism. https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Communism (August
30, 2020)
Roy A., Becker M. (2020) Dimensions of Constitutional Democracy. In: Roy A.,
Becker M. (eds) Dimensions of Constitutional Democracy. Springer,
Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3899-5_1 (August 26, 2020).
Socialism. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Labour-and-Socialist-International (August
30, 2020).
Terence Ball. Communism. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jiangxi-Soviet (August 26,
2020).

Videos:
Capitalism.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53vmQNVBm0w (August 30, 2020).
Capitalism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIuaW9YWqEU (August 30, 2020).
Capitalism.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NRnOpLpwyY (August 30, 2020).
Christianity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvL3YXa0n2M (August 30, 2020).
Christianity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbeFQtaybB8 (August 30, 2020).

FLORALICE BASCO RENGEL – JOSOL PSIE 3 – ASIAN POLITICAL THOUGHT 4