L'Ancien Régime Legacy of the Chinese Governance

Grand Union and the Common Good

Bibliographic Data

ID12956010
AuthorsYan Zhang (0000-0001-8460-2671), Zhang Yan (0000-0003-2362-4038, Yunnan University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume40
Issue2
Pages101-131
Publication date2022-12-20
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEast Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1874-6284 • E-ISSN: 1096-6838
PublisherSpringer Science+Business Media (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s12140-022-09395-0
OpenAlexW4311935990
LanguageFR
References cited20

Governance is essentially a dynamic mechanism to promote collective action for the common good. The Chinese concept of the public/common ( gōnggòng ) and its political philosophy of Grand Union governance provide an alternative perspective for understanding such dynamics from the unit of family through institutions to the state-embedded society. Three critical arguments with interconnected elements are analysed: governance as a dynamic mechanism; review of the historical, philosophical and political legacy of Chinese governance; and proposal of a framework for governance of the Grand Union . It concludes that ‘Chinese characteristics’, such as diverse adaptations, gradual flexibility, experimental pragmatism, and polycentric balance with a strong central state are all deeply rooted in its pre-revolutionary ancien régime . In order to understand these seemingly different institutions and values, we need to revisit their original functionality of governing for the common good

Ancien regime · Collective action · Corporate governance · Economic system · Economics · Epistemology · European union · Flexibility (engineering · Management · Multi-level governance · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Pragmatism · Sociology · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence

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