Radical Democracy or Stable Democracy

Zhang Bingjiu (hereafter Zhang): The new authoritarianism is a strategic consideration for the process of modernization in China. Because it is only one strategic option, its advocates do not exclude other possibilities and choices from consideration. The distinction between the new authoritarianism and certain known radical propositions is not whether or not China should develop a market economy and establish a system of democratic politics; the difference lies only in the way this end is achieved. If we were to say that the battle cry for democracy made ten years ago by a few courageous and heroic souls as they fought against the Gang of Four was loud enough to wake the dead and arouse people from their slumber in the midst of a dark period, then, by comparison, to speak generally of democracy today, when all of these requirements have become common requirements known to everyone and even written into the party's charter and the Constitution of the Republic, then it would resemble an incompetent physician simply saying to a patient, "Yes, you do have an illness." That, of course, would be inadequate. What we are proposing, therefore, is to explore rationally the shortest path to China's modernization, one that would most effectively avoid having to make sacrifices

Authoritarianism · Battle · Charter · China · Constitution · Democracy · Law and economics · Modernization theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Zhàng · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law

• Sirens of the Strongman

  Open Access•Barry Sautman•The China Quarterly•1992

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