Human Rights and National Security in East Asia

Abstract

In principle, states may perceive the relationship between human rights and national security as either mutually reinforcing or adversarial. It is not preordained, therefore, that many Asian governments take a negative view of human rights. This article argues that Asian governments will tend to perceive human rights as a threat to national security to the extent that some or all of the following factors are present: (1) a sense of victimization by Western imperialism or colonialism; (2) serious internal threats to state/regime security; (3) external military vulnerability; (4) an authoritarian political system; and (5) a belief that Western culture is detrimental to the country’s well-being.