Baogang He

Authoritarian Deliberation: The Deliberative Turn in Chinese Political Development

Authoritarian rule in China is now permeated by a wide variety of deliberative practices. These practices combine authoritarian concentrations of power with deliberative influence, producing the apparent anomaly of authoritarian deliberation. Although deliberation is usually associated with democracy, they are distinct phenomena. Democracy involves the inclusion of individuals in matters that affect them through distributions of empowerments such as votes and rights. Deliberation is a mode of communication involving persuasion-based influence. Combinations of non-inclusive power and deliberative influence — authoritarian deliberation — are readily identifiable in China, probably reflecting failures of command authoritarianism under the conditions of complexity and pluralism produced by market-oriented development. The concept of authoritarian deliberation frames two possible trajectories of political development in China: the increasing use of deliberative practices stabilizes and strengthens authoritarian rule, or deliberative practices serve as a leading edge of democratization.

Multiculturalism in Asia

The growing influence of liberalism in China has made it important to determine the response of traditional Chinese political thought to Western liberal ideas of multicultural citizenship, and the impact of the Western liberal model of minority rights on China’s ethnic minority policy. This chapter begins by discussing the basic characteristics of the Confucian approach to minority questions and minority rights. It examines the influence of Marxism on minority rights, in general, and on Chinese practice, in particular. It then discusses China’s policies on ethic minorities, and compares current Chinese practices with the Western liberal model of minority rights.This book explores the different ways that issues of ethnocultural diversity are conceptualised and debated in South and East Asia. It looks at the legacies of precolonial and colonial traditions for managing diversity, their reinterpretation under postcolonial independence and globalisation, and their relationship to Western liberal models of multiculturalism and emerging international norms of human and minority rights. It shows that political actors draw on a range of intellectual resources and traditions when thinking through these questions. Appeals to international human rights instruments and Western policies of multiculturalism are interspersed with appeals to local traditions, national mythologies, regional practices, and religious doctrines. An attempt to understand these debates or contribute to them requires an understanding of the complex interaction between the different ways of conceptualising diversity and citizenship.

Deliberative Democracy in an Unlikely Place: Deliberative Polling in China

Talk of democratic reform sometimes focuses on talk. The aspiration of ‘deliberative democracy’ is for the mass public to influence policy making through public discussion. The common presumption is that this is an advanced version of democracy, possible only in established democracies. Even there, there are doubts. Some contend that ordinary citizens cannot deal with complex policy issues, others that their deliberations will be distorted by gender or class inequalities, and yet others that they will be ineluctably polarizing. In less fully democratic societies like China’s, the prospects may seem slimmer.

The Democratic Implications of Civil Society in China

Acknowledgements - Abbreviations - List of Tables - Introduction - The Making of Semi-Civil Society in Dengs Era - Chinese Theories of Civil Society - Roles of Civil Society in the 1989 Democracy Movement - Political Civil Society in Exile - Legitimacy, the Arts of Rule and Civil Society - Civil Society, Pluralization and the Boundary Problem - The Limits of Civil Society - Conclusion - Bibliography - Index

Minority rights with Chinese characteristics

The growing influence of liberalism in China has made it important to determine the response of traditional Chinese political thought to Western liberal ideas of multicultural citizenship, and the impact of the Western liberal model of minority rights on China’s ethnic minority policy. This chapter begins by discussing the basic characteristics of the Confucian approach to minority questions and minority rights. It examines the influence of Marxism on minority rights, in general, and on Chinese practice, in particular. It then discusses China’s policies on ethic minorities, and compares current Chinese practices with the Western liberal model of minority rights.This book explores the different ways that issues of ethnocultural diversity are conceptualised and debated in South and East Asia. It looks at the legacies of precolonial and colonial traditions for managing diversity, their reinterpretation under postcolonial independence and globalisation, and their relationship to Western liberal models of multiculturalism and emerging international norms of human and minority rights. It shows that political actors draw on a range of intellectual resources and traditions when thinking through these questions. Appeals to international human rights instruments and Western policies of multiculturalism are interspersed with appeals to local traditions, national mythologies, regional practices, and religious doctrines. An attempt to understand these debates or contribute to them requires an understanding of the complex interaction between the different ways of conceptualising diversity and citizenship.

East Asian Ideas of Regionalism: A Normative Critique

Little was done to challenge nationalist assumptions in the name of regionalism. Regarding nationalism as a sensitive matter best left to a later stage of regionalism, they [advocates of regionalism] did not focus on how nationalist outlooks in the media and elsewhere stand in the way of both regionalism and internationalism.   Gilbert Rozman (2000: 18) With an increasing regional integration and development, there are many competing ideas of, and proposals for, regional development in Asia. This article examines the historical evolution of the idea of regionalism, the meanings of Asian regionalisms, variations of Asian regionalisms and their impact on regional cooperation in East Asia. It discusses Mahathirs idea of neo‐Asianism, Japanese new Asianism, Chinese ideas of regionalism, and variations of Korean ideas of regionalism. It also examines a normative basis of regionalism with special reference to the sovereignty question. The paper concludes that behind East Asian regionalism is nationalism which constitutes driving forces for regionalism; that two competing orders (Asia‐Pacific regionalism versus pan‐Asianism) create different expectations and visions of how East Asia region should evolve and they are in tensions and lead to different directions; and that East Asia lacks a convincing and acceptable normative framework.1

Cosmopolitan Perspectives on European and Asian Transnationalism

The article explores the implications of major social transformation in Asia for Europe. It specifically addresses expressions of cosmopolitan engagement between transnational organizations representing Asia and Europe. Within Asia, there is some evidence to indicate that cosmopolitanism is becoming a significant factor in culture and in politics, as is illustrated by increasing transnational cooperation within Asia and the dilution of national interests. A major question is whether such forms of cooperation will play a significant role in Asias relation to Europe and whether as a consequence European—Asian relations will develop in a direction congruent with cosmopolitan principles. The thesis of the article is that if its momentum continues to develop, cosmopolitan relations and normative regionalism in Asia and Europe are significant factors in reshaping the world and transregional order, and that critical cosmopolitanism can be an alternative to nationalism and to narrowly defined globalization.

Western Theories of Deliberative Democracy and the Chinese Practice of Complex Deliberative Governance

Western theories of deliberative democracy and the study of Chinese democratization tend to remain completely separate enterprises, to the detriment of both. Originating in Western societies such as America, England, and Australia, theories of deliberative democracy have largely ignored the experience of deliberation in China. The Anglo-American idea of deliberation is culturally narrow and insufficiently developed. China offers an important ground to explore the understanding of what deliberation can be in a totally different setting and makes a contribution to the understanding of deliberative institutions across the globe. This chapter calls for the integration of theories of deliberative democracy and Chinese practices of deliberation, with the aim of building a bridge between Western theories of deliberative democracy and the Chinese practices of participatory and deliberative institutions, to the ultimate benefit of both.1

Federalism in Asia

Until now there have been few attempts to examine the different models of federalism appropriate in Asia, let alone to trace the extent to which these different perspectives are compatible, converging, or mutually influencing each other. This book redresses the balance by demonstrating the varieties of Asian federalism.

Introduction to Ideas of Asian Regionalism

This volume will study ideas of regionalism in Asia with a particular focus on the relationship between ideas and power politics. It assesses the ideas of regionalism that have been promoted by great power actors, as well as those that have been promoted by middle powers, looking at how different actors sell their vision of the region to others, build support for their ideas, and manoeuvre against competing proposals. Although ideas about regionalism often appear to be thinly disguised expressions of national interests, an important question for Asia is whether or not ideas about the region can move beyond the limits of narrow national interests into a shared sense of community.