{"id":182124,"date":"2015-03-16T22:18:31","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T05:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=182124"},"modified":"2016-06-10T12:37:31","modified_gmt":"2016-06-10T19:37:31","slug":"confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Confucius, Authoritarianism, and Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Andrew Browne talks to Michael Schuman, author of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Confucius-World-Created-Michael-Schuman-ebook\/dp\/B00PWX7R8S?tag=chidigtim0b-20\">Confucius And the World He Created<\/a>,&#8221; about <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/chinarealtime\/2015\/03\/13\/writing-china-michael-schuman-confucius-and-the-world-he-created\/\"><strong>Confucianism\u2019s place in the modern world<\/strong><\/a>, its <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2014\/10\/leader-taps-chinese-classics-seeking-cement-power\/\">recruitment in support of Party rule<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/china\/confucius-institute\/\">its use as \u201cbranding\u201d for the country\u2019s global soft power efforts<\/a>. The <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/unraveling-chinas-campaign-western-values\/\">Party\u2019s embrace of the philosophy has sparked disagreement among current Confucian intellectuals<\/a> as China conducts an ongoing campaign against the influence of Western ideology.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Chinese President Xi Jinping often cites Confucius in his speeches. Is he, like the old emperors, using the sage to justify authoritarianism?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I believe that is exactly what President Xi is doing. For about two millennia, the emperors of China had used a form of Confucius\u2019s teachings to claim they possessed the moral right to rule, even though they often did not adhere to Confucian principles of government. Now the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to do the same \u2013 use a carefully crafted version of an undeniably Chinese political tradition to legitimize its rule while holding off unwanted Western ideals about human rights and democracy. I also think Xi may be emphasizing Confucian morality as part of his campaign to clean up corruption and improve the quality of the civil service.<\/p>\n<p>[\u2026] <strong>So is there a conflict between Confucianism and democracy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many have argued that Confucianism is inherently anti-democratic since it focuses on responsibilities, not rights, and community, not the individual. But some pro-democracy advocates in Asia have argued just the opposite. Mencius, the most influential Confucian thinker after Confucius himself, suggested that the people have the right to choose their own leaders, and even overthrow an oppressive ruler. In modern times, some reformers, most notably former South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, have seen in Mencius\u2019s words the seeds of democracy in Asia. The reality that many Confucian-influenced societies \u2013 South Korea, Japan, Taiwan \u2013 have become flourishing democracies also proves that Confucianism is not an impediment to liberal political systems. [<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/chinarealtime\/2015\/03\/13\/writing-china-michael-schuman-confucius-and-the-world-he-created\/\">Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Read <a href=\"http:\/\/uselesstree.typepad.com\/useless_tree\/2012\/07\/the-mandate-of-heaven-and-communist-party-leadership-transitions.html\">more on this theme in Mencius from Sam Crane at The Useless Tree<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/china\/confucianism\">on Confucianism<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/china\/chinese-philosophy\/\">Chinese philosophy<\/a> via CDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Andrew Browne talks to Michael Schuman, author of \u201cConfucius And the World He Created,&#8221; about Confucianism\u2019s place in the modern world, its recruitment in support of Party rule, and its use as \u201cbranding\u201d for the country\u2019s global soft power efforts. The Party\u2019s embrace of the philosophy has sparked disagreement among current [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":962,"featured_media":182125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[116,20,14744,14745,14746,100,5,112],"tags":[5974,2659,130,473,70,228,4674],"class_list":["post-182124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-culture","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","category-taiwan","tag-confucianism","tag-confucius-institute","tag-democracy","tag-ideology","tag-japan","tag-south-korea","tag-xi-jinping","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Confucius, Authoritarianism, and Democracy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Confucius, Authoritarianism, and Democracy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Wall Street Journal\u2019s Andrew Browne talks to Michael Schuman, author of \u201cConfucius And the World He Created,&#8221; about Confucianism\u2019s place in the modern world, its recruitment in support of Party rule, and its use as \u201cbranding\u201d for the country\u2019s global soft power efforts. The Party\u2019s embrace of the philosophy has sparked disagreement among current [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-17T05:18:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-10T19:37:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/confucianiam-schuman.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"262\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Samuel Wade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Samuel Wade\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Samuel Wade\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/4b33a6e88a49d3a6787f02f798de0d8e\"},\"headline\":\"Confucius, Authoritarianism, and Democracy\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-17T05:18:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-10T19:37:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/\"},\"wordCount\":351,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2015\/03\/confucianism-authoritarianism-and-democracy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/confucianiam-schuman.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Confucianism\",\"confucius institute\",\"democracy\",\"ideology\",\"Japan\",\"south korea\",\"Xi Jinping\"],\"articleSection\":[\"China &amp; 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