\u201cChina as a Method\u201d for Chinese Political Science Research

Abstract

Since the reinstatement of political science as an academic discipline in 1980, the Chinese political science scholarship has as much studied China-related issues as adopted from the West a large number of scholarly findings, research methodology, and theories including the modernization theory in the 1980s, the democratic transition theory from the 1990s onwards, and the governance theory in the twenty-first century. Through the academic dialogue between China and the West, the political science research community in China has, by the same token, formulated its own theories on democracy and governance that are derived from China’s experiences. Furthermore, along with the unprecedented transformations throughout the whole society, Chinese political science has equally undergone major changes, of which a case in point can be the calling in this article for a political science research using "China as a method" (For this notion of "China as a Method", although it comes from Yuzo Mizoguchi, a Japanese scholar on China studies, it is also a product of the mutual learning across civilizations and also benefits from the inspiration of "taking the reform as the methodology". The so-called "China as the methodology" not only focuses on "China as the center", basing one’s research on China, answering questions about China, and putting forward China-based propositions; it also means that the ontology, epistemology, and methodological knowledge generated by “China as the center” or “China as a method” can become a theoretical orientation and methodological framework for Chinese political research in the world.). The best way to understand China is to study its political history, as Chinese history is mainly a political one, demonstrating a high degree of historical continuity. For this very reason, we have proposed a historical political science as a method for studying China—an approach that is different from historical sociology. The historical political science is, indeed, not Chinese-centered or -focused, where a comparative historical analysis will be ushered in as well.