I came to the collective project that led to this book not, obviously, as an Asian, nor even as a specialist on Asian politics or society. Rather, I am an American who has spent most of his academic career studying the theory of human rights and international human rights practices. Having long been interested in questions of cultural relativism,1 I eagerly accepted the oppor¬tunity to address recent arguments advocating a distinctive "Asian" approach to human rights.
That I largely reject these Asian arguments is a sign not of disrespect but of disagreement. I may be incorrect in arguing that international human rights standards can and should be applied directly and pretty much in their entirety to the countries of contemporary Asia. I do believe, though, that I have given appropriately careful and detailed scrutiny to Asian arguments to the contrary. My tone may be exceedingly harsh to Asian ears - although the statements of Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad certainly suggest that combative public rhetoric is not foreign to the region, but I believe that the important substantive issues raised by, and the passion behind, many recent Asian arguments deserves an equally strong and impas¬sioned reply from those who would defend the universal application of inter¬national human rights standards.