4 - Understanding How and Why Ideas Spread

Summary

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 rationalist perspective (Goldstein and Keohane 1993). Goldstein and Keohane present a three-fold 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 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 historiographical 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.