<![CDATA[Research Problem: Alexandre Kojève’s anthropocentric reinterpretation of Hegelian dialectics, especially his concepts of finite negativity, desire for recognition, the master-slave dialectic, and the universal homogeneous state, has profoundly shaped Western political philosophy. However, its relevance for understanding religion, ethics, and governance in non-Western contexts remains underexplored. In contemporary Asia, rapid modernization, state-led development, religious pluralism, and post-traditional legitimacy have produced new tensions between material progress, moral authority, public recognition, and ethical governance. This article addresses the problem of how Kojève’s political philosophy can be reframed to analyze the role of religious ethics in shaping state legitimacy and governance across selected Asian societies. Research Purposes: This study aims to examine how Kojève’s philosophical-political vision can serve as a diagnostic framework for analyzing religion, legitimacy, and governance in China, India, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia. More specifically, it seeks to explain how religious and moral traditions interact with state authority, modernization, and public recognition. The article also investigates how Kojève’s concepts of recognition, post-history, and “animalization” illuminate the ethical risks of governance systems that achieve material satisfaction while weakening human striving, moral agency, and public contestation. Research Methods: This study employs a qualitative theoretical-analytical approach based on philosophical interpretation, conceptual analysis, and comparative political reading. It examines Kojève’s major concepts, including finite negativity, desire for recognition, the master-slave dialectic, the universal homogeneous state, and post-historical animalization. These concepts are then applied to selected Asian cases through comparative analysis, with particular attention to religious ethics, moral traditions, state legitimacy, public authority, and governance practices. The study does not employ empirical fieldwork, but develops a conceptual framework for interpreting the ethical and religious dimensions of contemporary Asian governance. Results and Discussion: The findings show that Kojève’s framework can be productively reframed to examine the relationship between religious ethics, state legitimacy, and governance in Asia. In China and Vietnam, developmental bureaucracies approximate preemptive universal homogeneous states by managing religion, morality, and public recognition through state-centered legitimacy and controlled negation. In India, religious nationalism, caste hierarchy, and social pluralism reveal an incomplete dialectic of recognition marked by persistent asymmetries. In Japan and South Korea, post-historical consumer societies display forms of ethical satisfaction in which religious and moral traditions are transformed into cultural symbolism, social discipline, and soft-power identity. Indonesia presents an open-ended case in which Islam, Pancasila, pluralism, and democratic governance continue to shape contested forms of recognition and legitimacy. These cases suggest that the end of history is not merely a political or economic condition, but also an ethical and religious problem concerning moral subjectivity, public authority, and the future of human striving. Research Implications and Contributions: This article contributes to the study of religion, governance, and public policy by repositioning Kojève’s political philosophy within debates on religious ethics and state legitimacy in Asia. It argues that religion remains a central framework through which states and societies negotiate recognition, moral order, political authority, and public legitimacy. The study also contributes theoretically by showing that Kojève’s concepts of recognition and post-history can help explain how modern states manage religious traditions, ethical claims, and legitimacy demands in plural societies. By connecting Kojèvean political theory with religion and governance studies, the article offers a new framework for analyzing the ethical limits of modernization and the role of religious morality in contemporary public life.]]>
