Confucian Democracy

Thus, Lee Tui-Heng sees the potential of Confucianism to correct the deficiencies of democratic system.  Of course, democracy has its advantages – that’s very clear.  But, like any other systems, it is not without flaws.  For example, the democratic system guarantees and emphasizes the rights of the individuals.  But individualism can go to extremes, and even degenerate into egotism and hedonism.  Democracy excessively emphasizes reason and objectivity, which can lead to an overly independent and rapidly expanding system of government, producing a bloated bureaucracy or overlapping organizations.  Democracy, as a system, also runs a risk that it would become a leviathan placing that places enormous burdens on individuals and reduces them to being mere cogs in a machine.  It also requires that nay change or revision of the state system be accomplished through rational discussion, but unanimous agreement is often difficult to achieve among the multitude of competing groups in society.

With these deficiencies of the system of democracy as our background, we raise the question: what contributions can Confucianism make?  Primarily, Confucianism respects the individual and establishes the potential for perfectibility through self-cultivation.  Because the special traits of each individual are manifested in social interaction, Confucianism has given considerable thought to the centrifugal flow of human relations, starting from or with the individual and family and moving outward to society and the nation.  Thus, individual perfection is developed alongside the enhanced welfare of the group.  Confucian doctrine includes a sophisticated set of theories that can balance the excesses of individualism.

Secondly, Confucianists remind us to emphasize neither institutions nor the individual at the expense of the other.  Mencius likewise states, “Virtue is not sufficient for the exercise of government; laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice.”  What he means is that virtue and laws need to be coordinated so that a ruler can effectively push the work of government forward.  For Confucianists, then, not only is the conflict between rule of man and rule of law unnecessary, but the two should coordinate with each other to avoid alienation between the individual and government.

Lastly, it appears very essential to provide a comprehensive set of values in the core content of education to reach a consensus among the people.  The Confucian value system consists of three levels: the individual as a center, the interrelationship between self and society, and the transcendence of the self.  The system first emphasizes meeting the common needs of the people, then setting higher goals, and eventually forming a consensus among all people.

Hence, Asian democracy?  We might as well brand it Confucian democracy.

Any othe name?