Reconciling Socialism and Confucianism? Reviving Tradition in China Reply by Daniel A. Bell

...Michael Walzer says, “The way to achieve justice, at home and abroad, is to give political power to those who suffer from injustice...

...On the other hand, the recent revival of Confucianism does give rise to some hope...

...it seemed they wanted to follow my social and political way of life...

...ARGUMENTS Daniel A. Bell Replies In 1989, I strongly supported the student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square...

...If university-educated people had extra votes in the American political process, George W. Bush would not have been elected, and the United States would not have invaded Iraq...

...The problem, as I see it, is rather the opposite—that Confucianism might be too critical, too utopian, too far removed from reality to really make a difference...

...Those words were written by my favorite political theorist—Michael Walzer—in his book Thick and Thin (1994), and they inspired me to think about what democracy with Chinese characteristics might mean in practice...

...Given the long history of meritocracy in China as well as the country’s disastrous experience with the anti-intellectual Cultural Revolution, perhaps it makes sense to think of ways of empowering intellectual elites in the Chinese context...

...If China can come up with a meritocratic system of government that institutionalizes the idea that some political leaders have the task of representing the interests of future generations, foreigners, and all those likely to be affected by the policies of the rulers—tian xia, to use the language of Confucianism—shouldn’t we encourage them to do so...

...But I’ve now changed my mind, mainly due to my lived experience in China and interactions with students and leading intellectuals here...

...But what about issues like foreign policy...

...A few years later, I sketched out a proposal for a bicameral legislature with a democratically elected lower house and an upper house composed of representatives selected on the basis of competitive examinations...

...It didn’t occur to me that democracy in China might take particular forms rooted in its own traditions...

...If it’s about land disputes in rural China, farmers should have a greater say...

...In cases of conflict of interest between the current generations of voters and future generations, when have democracies sided with the latter...

...The most thoughtful and detailed proposals try to combine “Western” ideas of democracy with “Confucian” ideas of meritocracy, and rather than subordinate Confucian values and institutions to democracy as an a priori dictum, they contain a division of labor, with democracy having priority in some areas and meritocracy in others...

...Student elitism was rooted, perhaps, in Leninist vanguard politics or, more likely, in pre-communist cultural traditions (Confucian, mandarin) specific to China and certain to show up in any version of Chinese democracy...

...Perhaps “China needs an edgier doctrine,” but I don’t think it will get very far if that doctrine doesn’t owe anything to “pre-communist cultural traditions (Confucian, mandarin) specific to China and certain to show up in any version of Chinese democracy...

...In practice, it means more freedoms of speech and association and more representation for workers and farmers in the political process...

...Perhaps left-liberals in the West may be increasingly pessimistic about China’s political reform because their cherished ideals of one person/one vote and multiparty rule seem further away than ever...

...Five years later, however, I read these words: I recognized in the arguments of the students [in Tiananmen Square in 1989] a sense of their mission or their special political role that was clearly incompatible with the American [democratic] ideal (in which a certain hostility to the claims of the educated classes has always been present) and probably incompatible too with the prevailing abstract and universal theories...

...Without knowing much about China, I guess I supported the students partly out of a form of self-love...

...For a North American leftist, the idea that educated people could be the ones with a more enlightened vision does not seem plausible, but perhaps I needed to think outside the box...

...Walzer claims that Confucianism “clearly isn’t already a critical force,” but if that’s the case why do Confucianinspired theorists experience censorship...

...Why would we blindly want to support democracy as a universal ideal, even if that goes against the grain of China’s own traditions and the reflective understandings of many Chinese intellectuals today...

...Over the past decade, Chinese intellectuals have reconnected with their past, and many different proposals have emerged for political reform rooted at least partly in China’s own traditions...

...Perhaps giving “power to the people” works, but perhaps not...

...In today’s China, it’s easier to publish a text on democratic theory and human rights than a book on Confucian political theory that draws social and institutional implications...

...By that time, I had gotten to know Michael Walzer not just as an inspiring theorist, but also as a kind and warm friend, and he persuaded me to modify the proposal so that the upper house should be constitutionally subordinate to the democratically elected house...

...But if critical Chinese intellectuals and political reformers are now increasingly seeking inspiration from Confucian values like harmony, meritocracy, civility, and paternalism, thinking about how to combine China’s own values with those from traditions of foreign heritage, such as socialism, liberalism, and feminism, shouldn’t we be open to such reinterpretations...

...But which nation-based democracies give power to future generations who will be affected by global warming...

...And what about concern for future generations...

...If it’s about pay and safety disputes, workers should have a greater say...