d society so that everybody can have maximum enjoyment of his freedoms" (Zakaria, 1994, p. 111). In Lee Kuan's view, Western concepts of individual liberty tend as they mature to lead "to the breakdown of civil society" (Zakaria, 1994, p. 111).
According to Lee Kuan, Western individualism is inconsistent with traditional Eastern values which stress the primacy of the needs of social groups, starting with the family unit and extending to the entire society, over the desires of individuals. He believes that Asian nations are more likely to succeed economically and provide for the material well-being of their people, if their underlying culture embraces traditional Asian values including "the belief in thrift, hard work, filial piety and loyalty to the extended family, and, most of all, respect for scholarship and learning" (Zakaria, 1994, p. 114).
Political systems in East Asia, as Sang-Jin (1995) says in reference to South Korea, "confine democracy to procedural democracy at the political level, falling short of economic and social democracy and participation" (p. 9). Sang-Jin argu
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