Political Confucianism and Multivariate Democracy in East Asia

Abstract

The relationship between Confucianism and democracy has been widely debated among contemporary Confucian political theorists. The debate is often between four competing models. First, most commonly advocated during the first wave of democratization in East Asia, the conflict model sees Confucianism as an obstacle to democratization. Second, the critical model treats Confucianism as the arbiter of the political norm and regards democracy as full of deficiencies and flaws from a Confucian point of view. Third, the compatibility model argues that there are elements in Confucianism and Confucian culture that are positive in relation to democracy. Confucianism can be reinterpreted to (fully) converge with democracy. Finally, the hybrid model argues that the practice of democracy and the process of democratization are always a mix of Western and Confucian cultures. Because of the subtle tensions between the two, the key is to find the best proportion of the different ingredients from Confucianism and democracy. While the conflict and critical models usually lead to some kind of meritocracy or comprehensive perfectionism that put Confucianism in the center of the social and political agenda, the compatibility and hybrid models are often advocated by more moderate or even liberal-minded Confucian political theorists who wish to establish at least some liberal and democratic ideals and institutions in East Asia.