• The Korea Times
  • search
search close
Reporter :
Sun, October 1, 2023 | 01:27
Revisiting the 'Asian values' debate
In light of the rise of China and the severe divisions - political and social - afflicting the United States, it is instructive to reflect back on the “Asian values” debate of the mid-1990s.
2022-02-14 15:18
Crisis of democracy II: Secularization and loss of liberal confidence
In my previous column, I wrote about the role played by Christianity in providing cohesion to American democracy, a unity that it could not find elsewhere. Religious belief had the consequence of prompting Americans to look beyond their self-interest and serve the common good. As Harvard sociologist Daniel Bell observed, Christianity provided the foundations of a moral consen...
2022-02-05 14:07
The crisis of democracy: John Adams and Plato
A recent column by Bernard Rowan declares that we should not be worried by the rise or the persistence of authoritarian regimes around the world, and we should have faith that democracy “won't go anywhere” in the future.
2022-01-29 09:32
Speculating on 'Squid Game'
After the unprecedented best picture Oscar won by “Parasite,” another South Korean cultural product, “Squid Game,” has achieved global prominence. It is now the most-watched show on Netflix, having drawn over 111 million viewers during the first 17 days of its release.
2021-10-19 09:38
The roots of condemning the past
In my previous column, I made the argument that the wholesale attack on the founding symbols and traditions of Western civilization is driven by two forces. On the one hand, young people want to purify their society of prejudices like racism, sexism, and homophobia, which they view as rampant. On the other hand, technological advances are giving increasing wealth and influenc...
2020-10-18 14:56
'Mass man' and the destruction of the West's civilizational heritage
An extraordinary discontent over the issue of race has swept the U.S. Demonstrations over the killings of blacks by police have broken out in many cities. The need to achieve racial equality has become the top priority, leading many to take part in protests against the police and the justice system.
2020-10-09 10:30
Innovation and the humanities
What is the good of studying the humanities? As a student and then teacher of literature, I have had my share of skeptical and practical souls ask me about the wisdom of entering a field where the prospects for jobs are bleak and which has less and less relevance to a high-tech society shaped by science and mathematics.
Blogs | 2019-04-13 08:52
Is the age of democracy over?
In Foreign Affairs, Yascha Mounk sounds the alarm that authoritarianism is on the ascent across the globe. He argues that the link between democracy and economic prosperity, which was behind much of the appeal of democracy after the Cold war, has begun to fray: “In 1990, countries rated 'not free' by Freedom House… accounted for just 12 percent of global income. Now, they are...
2018-04-30 15:16
The cultural crisis of democracy
We live in interesting times, and nothing is more responsible for making our times interesting than the loss of confidence in liberal democracy. Not so long ago, as the Cold War drew to a close, intellectuals in the West concluded, whether triumphantly from the Right or gloomily from the Left, that the future belonged to liberal democracy. There was no alternative.
2018-04-18 13:48
[PHOTOS] Trapped along borders
Copyright