Civilizations in Embrace: The Spread of Ideas and the Transformation of Power; India and Southeast Asia in the Classical Age

4. Understanding How and Why Ideas Spread

4 Understanding How and wHy ideas spread in exploring the correlation between history and political science with respect to the diffusion of “ideas,” i have used goldstein and Keohane’s notion of ideas without adopting their rationa­ list perspective (goldstein and Keohane 1993). goldstein and Keohane present a three­fold typology of ideas: as world views, principled beliefs, and causal beliefs (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 8–11). world views “define the universe of possibilities for action” (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 9). the world’s religions constitute a major source of such ideas, while another example is the concept of sovereignty. principled beliefs are “normative ideas that specify criteria for distinguishing right from the wrong and just from unjust” (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 9). such ideas are represented by the anti­slavery movement, or the more recent anti­land mines movement. Causal beliefs are “beliefs about cause­ effect relationships which derive authority from the shared consensus of recognized elites, whether they are village elders or scientists at elite institutions” (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 10). such beliefs include scientific discoveries about the causes of disease, or the link between shared beliefs and revolutionary political change. one 44 Civilizations in Embrace example which is especially relevant here is the time­honored idea of “consensus” (mufakat) in dispute settlement mechanisms in rural indonesia, in which village elders guide a process of consultations that defines the parameters of a settlement. this reflects the causal idea that social order depends on the shared beliefs in the social organization of the village. How does the above classification of ideas apply to the historio­ graphical debates about the spread of indian ideas to southeast asia? the kind of indian ideas that found acceptance in southeast asia fall into what goldstein and Keohane would call “world views,” especially since they were directly or indirectly rooted in Hindu and Buddhist religious philosophies and traditions. But it is not possible to separate religion from politics in classical southeast asia, and there are clear overlaps between world views and other categories of ideas. as goldstein and Keohane note: “Causal beliefs imply strategies for the attainment of goals, themselves valued because of shared principled beliefs, and understandable only within the context of broader world views” (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 10). similarly, many ideas, whether they relate to sovereignty, authority and legitimacy link all three types of ideas: “doctrines and movements often weave con­ ceptions of possibilities and principled and causal ideas together into what may seem to be a seamless web” (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 11). the indian ideas that were transmitted to southeast asia included all three types, although most have their basis in religious tradition (Hindu­Buddhist). For example, indian law texts, such as Manu’s Manusmrti, (the Code of Manu) the most influential indian legal text in southeast asia, is essentially a collection of normative prescriptions and proscriptions. the doctrine of Dhamma of the indian emperor ashoka, whose conversion to Buddhism 45 Understanding How and Why Ideas Spread served as a springboard for the spread of Buddhism beyond india, including southeast asia (thambiah 1976), contained specific prohibitions against unjust and cruel treatment of human beings and animals. these are examples of principles beliefs. similarly, the prime example of causal beliefs would be the Arthasastra of Kautilya, which influenced southeast asian statecraft, strategy and diplomacy. this book offered the ruler a wealth of ideas about how to preserve and expand his power. thus, indianization can be seen as a broad process that did “weave conceptions of possibilities and principled and causal ideas together into what may seem to be a seamless web” (goldstein and Keohane 1993: 11). Beyond the typology of ideas, the foregoing discussion of the diffusion of ideas in classical southeast asia has several major implications for the study of their diffusion across civilizations. the followingare especially important. the first concerns the relationship between power and the trans­ mission of ideas. ideas have causal power and this causal power does not depend on conquest or coercion. the fact that southeast asian rulers used indian ideas for legitimizing their power also suggests that power is constituted by ideas and the exercise of power can only be understood by looking at its ideational and inter­subjective basis. the indianization process in southeast asia clearly highlights the distinction between voluntary adaptation and coerced introduction of foreign ideas into a local setting, capturing a dynamic vastly different from the theory of...