Daniel A. Bell

Confucianism for the modern world

Part I. Confucian Perspectives on Democracy: 1. Constitutionalism, Confucian civic virtue, and ritual propriety Hahm Chaihark 2. The challenges of accountability: implications of the censorate Mo Jongryn 3. Confucian Democrats in Chinese history Wang Juntao 4. Mutual help and democracy in Korea Chang Yun-Shik 5. A pragmatist understanding of Confucian democracy David L. Hall and Roger T. Ames 6. The case for moral education Geir Helgesen Part II. Confucian Perspectives on Capitalism: 7. Center-local relations: can Confucianism boost decentralization and regionalism? Gilbert Rozman 8. Affective networks and modernity: the case of Korea Lew Seok-Choon, Chang Mi-Hye and Kim Tae-Eun 9. Confucian constraints on property rights Daniel A. Bell 10. Giving priority to the worst off: a Confucian perspective on social welfare Joseph Chan Part III. Confucian Perspectives on Law: 11. Mediation, litigation, and justice: Confucian reflections in a modern liberal society Albert H. Y. Chen 12. Traditional Confucian values and western legal frameworks: the law of succession Lusina Ho 13. The Confucian conception of gender in the twenty-first century Chan Sin Yee 14. The Confucian family v. the individual: the politics of marriage laws in Korea Epilogue: why Confucius now? William Theodore de Bary.

Confucian Political Ethics

PREFACE by Daniel A. Bell ix PART ONE: STATE AND CIVIL SOCIETY 1 CHAPTER ONE: Confucian Conceptions of Civil Society by Richard Madsen 3 CHAPTER TWO: Confucian Perspectives on Civil Society and Government Peter Nosco 20 CHAPTER THREE: Civil Society, Government, and Confucianism: A Commentary Henry Rosemont, Jr. 46 PART TWO: BOUNDARIES AND JUSTICE 59 CHAPTER FOUR: Territorial Boundaries and Confucianism by Joseph Chan 61 CHAPTER FIVE: Boundaries of the Body and Body Politic in Early Confucian Thought by Michael Nylan 85 PART THREE: ETHICAL PLURALISM 111 CHAPTER SIX: Confucian Attitudes toward Ethical Pluralism by Joseph Chan 113 CHAPTER SEVEN: Two Strands of Confucianism by Lee H. Yearley 139 PART FOUR: CONTEMPORARY FEMINISM 145 CHAPTER EIGHT: Gender and Relationship Roles in the Analects and the Mencius by Sin Yee Chan 147 CHAPTER NINE: The Confucian Concept of Ren and the Feminist Ethics of Care: A Comparative Study by Chenyang Li 175 PART FIVE: WAR AND PEACE 199 CHAPTER TEN: The Implications of Ancient Chinese Military Culture for World Peace by Ni Lexiong 201 CHAPTER ELEVEN: Just War and Confucianism: Implications for the Contemporary World by Daniel A. Bell 226 CONTRIBUTORS 257 INDEX 259

The Spirit of Cities: Why the Identity of a City Matters in a Global Age

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Civicism 1 Jerusalem: The City of Religion 18 Montreal: The City of Language(s) 56 Singapore: The City of Nation Building 78 Hong Kong: The City of Materialism 111 Beijing: The City of Political Power 140 Oxford: The City of Learning 161 Berlin: The City of (In)Tolerance 191 Paris: The City of Romance 222 New York: The City of Ambition 249 Notes 279 Bibliography 321 Index 333

Reconciling Socialism and Confucianism?: Reviving Tradition in China

Communism has lost its capacity to inspire the Chinese. But what will replace it? And what should replace it? Clearly, there is a need for a new moral foundation for political rule in China, and the government has moved closer to an official embrace of Confucianism. The Olympics highlighted Confucian themes, quoting the Analects of Confucius at the opening ceremony, and downplayed any references to China’s experiment with communism. Cadres at the newly built Communist Party School in Shanghai proudly tell visitors that the main building is modeled on a Confucian scholar’s desk. Abroad, the government has been promoting Confucianism via branches of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and culture center similar to France’s Alliance Française and Germany’s Goethe Institute.

The Ethical Dilemmas of International Human Rights and Humanitarian NGOs: Relections on a Dialogue Between Practitioners and Theorists

In an imperfect and unpredictable world, international human rights and humanitarian nongovernmental associations (INGOs) often face ethical dilemmas that constrain their efforts to do good in foreign lands. In this paper, we draw upon a recent dialogue between human rights practitioners and academics in order to identify some of the typical ethical dilemmas encountered by INGOs during the course of their work and to discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages associated with different ways of dealing with those dilemmas. We identify four kinds of ethical dilemmas frequently faced by INGOs: (1) conflicts between human rights principles and local cultural norms; (2) the tension between expanding and restricting the organizations mandate; (3) whether and how to collaborate with less-than-democratic governments; and (4) the ethical limits of fund-raising.

War, Peace, and China's Soft Power: A Confucian Approach

The contemporary Chinese intellectual Kang Xiaoguang has argued that Chinese soft power should be based on Confucian culture, the most influential Chinese political tradition. But which Confucian values should form the core of China’s soft power? This paper first explores the coexistence of state sovereignty and utopian cosmopolitanism through an analysis of Confucian tradition up to contemporary Chinese nationalism. It insists on the exogenous roots of the cosmopolitan ideal and its relations with the ideal of a harmonious political order and a global peace. Then, it compares the philosophy of ‘all-under-heaven’ in its classical and contemporary forms, with Mencius’ theory of a ‘hegemon’, a theory that still informs the moral language that Chinese intellectuals use to evaluate foreign policy, especially regarding morally-justified warfare. It ends on a reflection on the role that Mencius’s theory of just and unjust war can play in the contemporary Chinese context and to help understanding and defining the stance of China in the international geo-political context.

Understanding Illiberal Democracy: A Framework

Liberal democratic ideals and institutions command almost universal allegiance in Western societies, a phenomenon to be understood in the light of the West’s shared history and culture. In what seems like an all too obvious theoretical mistake, however, it is often assumed without argument that liberal democracy also meets the deeper aspirations of the rest of the world, most notably by Francis Fukuyama with his now infamous claim that we are witnessing an ‘end of history’ in which liberal democracy has finally triumphed over all its rivals. More concretely, this blind faith in the universal potential of liberal democracy takes the form of a US governmental policy to promote liberal democracy abroad, regardless of local needs, habits, and traditions, and not unexpectedly moral exhortation has proven far less effective than in the days when General MacArthur could forcibly impose democratic forms of government on recalcitrant countries. In short, democracy activists have encountered much resistance in non-Western contexts, and the task of exporting liberal democracy appears to be a great deal more complicated than optimists had supposed in the heady days after the collapse of communism in the Soviet bloc.

Confucian Meritocracy for Contemporary China

INTRODUCTION Confucian moral and political thought concentrates on the cultivation of virtue ( xiushen ) by individuals and the rule of virtue ( dezhi ) in government. It emphasizes that every individual learn the virtues (such as xiao , ren , yi , zhi , xin , zhong , and he ) by observing rituals ( li ) (i.e., a series of familial and social norms, ceremonies and patterns) affirmed by the tradition. In this tradition, only virtuous individuals deserve to be selected as rulers, and they will rule the people through rituals as well as other virtuous means, using coercion or punishment only as a last resort. In the Confucian view, rulers, as individuals, should strive to become outstanding exemplars of the good life for the people to follow. Government must be appropriately institutionalized to formulate proper policies and conduct suitable administrations to promote peoples well-being. Accordingly, although the Confucian view of government can fit into the formal definition of political meritocracy that this book generally adopts – namely, a government by those with above-average ability or virtue along with a selection mechanism designed to choose them – it also goes deeply beyond it. A good Confucian polity inevitably involves substantive Confucian moral and political norms that provide specific guidance as to how rulers should rule. Without engaging such norms, it is impossible to offer an adequate account of Confucian meritocracy, because they are at least needed to inform what “merit” is precisely for a Confucian meritocracy. Such norms, for this books concern with sorting out various political arrangements for legitimate legislature and governance, are also needed to distinguish the Confucian form of meritocracy from other forms, such as liberal meritocracy, because they are undeniably different.

Reconciling Confucianism and Nationalism

Confucianism has made a comeback in mainland China over the last two decades or so. Politically minded Confucian revivalists see Confucianism as the core of national identity that differs from “foreign” traditions such as liberalism and they argue for replacing Marxism with Confucianism as the core ideology of the one-party state. But is the ancient tradition of Confucianism compatible with the modern tradition of nationalism? And is it possible to defend a morally appealing form of “Confucian nationalism”? This essay argues that both questions can be answered affirmatively.

Beyond Liberal Democracy: A Debate on Democracy and Confucian Meritocracy

At the twenty-second World Congress of Philosophy held in Seoul, Korea, from July 29 to August 5, 2008, a panel was convened to debate the ideas for a ‘‘democracy with Confucian characteristics’’ in Daniel A. Bell’s Beyond Liberal Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006). While all participants welcome the attempt to remedy the shortcomings of liberal democracy with Confucian teachings, Fred Dallmayr worries that Bell’s political thinking for an East Asian context may ‘‘point beyond democracy tout court.’’ For Sor-hoon Tan, Bell’s chapter 6, ‘‘Taking Elitism Seriously: Democracy with Confucian Characteristics’’ may not be so much an alternative to liberalism as it is a challenge to the democratic value of equality that overlooks the dangers of an imperfect meritocracy. Chenyang Li, on the other hand, approaches Bell’s proposal of combining a Confucianism-inspired Upper House of Talent and Virtue selected through competitive examinations with a lower house of democratically elected representatives from the concern that it surrenders the Confucian requirement of virtuous leadership. This feature review also concludes with a spirited reply from Daniel Bell.