Thursday, May 26, 2011

Korea Becoming More Progressive - Canada More Conservative

Indeed, some Koreans seem to have a positive view of the country's former dictators, and want to celebrate them as national heroes.  But at the same time, many Koreas are committed to progressive democratic values, and celebrate those who fought for democracy in Korea, for example by producing a documentary film about the people who participated in the GwangJu democratization movement.

And interestingly, a recent news article reported that the politics of Koreans are changing, that is becoming more progressive.  More specifically, the article reported on a poll conducted by the Hankyoreh newspaper (English version here) and an organization called the "Korean Social Science Data Center".  The poll's results indicate that Koreans are increasingly self-identifying as politically progressive or moderate, and less often self-identifying as conservative.  In addition, individuals who now self-identify as progressive are  linked to demographic groups or geographical locations that are traditionally or stereotypically associated with conservativism, like the wealthy neighbourhood of Gangnam, in Seoul, for example.  And interestingly, the article reports that:
"An analysis of political positions on specific issues found increasingly progressive leanings on issues involving the socially disadvantaged and increasingly conservative leanings on foreign affairs and national security matters."
So it seems that Koreans are in a mood to help each other out, but are in no mood to be benevolent towards their neighbours.  The latter sentiment is perhaps natural given North Korea's recent attacks on South Korea.


Meanwhile, Canadians have just elected a conservative government.  Many observers, both before and after the recent Canadian election, have argued that Canadians support the Conservative party out of uncertainty and fear, usually uncertainty about their economic future.  Canada is indeed traversing a period of economic uncertainty, and a post-election analysis suggests that, in early May, Canadians elected the Conservative party because they believed that they would have the soundest economic policies for the country.  But is a Conservative government truly the best thing for the Canadian economy?

The Conservative party has already run the largest government deficit in Canadian history.  But I'm not sure I blame them for this 100%, as I believe that some government spending was needed to mitigate the harms of the recent recession of the Canadian economy.  But I doubt very much, as do others, that Canadians got the best bang for their buck with the Conservative party's spending.  One blogger, who is clearly not a fan of Conservative governments, has argued that a much more intelligent spending plan could have been put into place.  More specifically, it was argued that the plan should have been used to stimulate industries and economic sectors that are likely to be of importance to the Canadian economy in the future, like the green energy and green technology sectors.  I think this represents a serious lost opportunity for Canada.

And now, after only a few weeks in power, the Conservative government is refusing to send the army to help with flood relief in Québec, arguing that this would interfere with private sector driven relief efforts.  You have to hand it to them, the Conservatives are committed to the economy.  So committed, in fact, that they are willing to refuse sending federal government help to a flood-stricken region of Québec, thus ensuring that the impact of the disaster is captured with total accuracy in Canadian GDP figures.  Is this the kind of economic policy Canadians voted for in early May?

No comments: