Well-Being, Harmony, and Deference

Toward a Confucian Case for Empowered Mini-Publics

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6345686
AutoresZhichao Tong (0000-0002-6060-8494, Sun Yat-sen University, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Volume73
Fascículo1
Páginas370-390
Data de publicação2025-02-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitical Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0032-3217 • E-ISSN: 1467-9248
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/00323217241245347
OpenAlexW4394817214
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas3
Referências citadas58

Nearly all debates within contemporary Confucian political theory regarding the full or partial adoption of democracy have understood democracy as electoral representative democracy. Almost no attention has then been paid to how Confucian democracy or Confucian meritocracy would relate to randomly selected deliberative bodies increasingly considered by democratic theorists amid an ongoing reconceptualization of democracy. In this article, I explore such a relationship by presenting a Confucian case for empowered mini-publics. My central claim is that the adoption of this institution can be interpreted in Confucian terms and embraced by Confucian democrats as well as Confucian meritocrats, on the basis of several key Confucian values which they have already employed in defending their respective political proposals. By making this claim, I also demonstrate that one of central institutional innovations originally proposed to alleviate ills facing Western liberal democracies has a broader application and appeal than it has been assumed

Appeal · Deference · Democracy · Harmony (color · Institution · Liberal democracy · Meritocracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Law