Confucian Governance

Confucianism refers to the philosophy attributed to the fifth-century BCE. Chinese thinker, Confucius, and the schools of thought based on his teachings. While its dominance in Asian history can be overstated, Confucianism's emphases on mutual obligation, on the leader and elites as the bearers of moral authority, and on education and institutions as crucial to shaping [Page 140]people's characters, do characterize widespread East Asian political ideals.

Confucianism as a political philosophy centers on the ability of the ruler to persuade by moral force (de), and on a series of five interlinked social relationships: parent-child, husband-wife, older brother-younger brother, ruler-subject, and friend-friend. It suggests that humans' moral potential is malleable and can be shaped by social and political institutions. If social relationships are conducted according to well-defined rituals and rules of propriety (li), if mutual obligations are fulfilled, and if institutions are properly constructed, everything—from the moral condition of individuals, to the relationships between inferiors and superiors, to the state itself—will be well-ordered. Thus, Confucian governance is said to rely on concentric circles of relationships, with virtue believed to spread outward from the self to permeate one's family, one's society, and eventually the universe. The task of creating institutions and education that promote people's moral self-cultivation falls to virtuous rulers and to the cadres of educated bureaucratic elites that advise them.

Because Confucian governance advocates clearly defined social hierarchies and emphasizes the importance of human relationships, it has been criticized as promoting a politically disengaged citizenry, focused on personal relationships, and a tyrannical, elitist government. Confucianism has also been viewed as presenting either an alternative or a hindrance to Western-style economic development, relying as it does on moral authority and mutual obligations rather than on rule of law. In the “Asian values” debates of the 1990s, Confucian governance's emphasis on paternalistic authority was often considered largely responsible for the rapid economic growth of several East Asian nations. Confucianism was seen as promoting “top-down” styles of governance in everything from government-led development policy to the relationships between company managers and their workers. Since the onset of economic troubles in East Asia in the late 1990s, this style of economic management has been equally blamed for the crises.

There have been several recent attempts to seek Confucianism support for democratic alternatives to the liberal forms of democracy dominant in the West, or for a form of constitutional government “locally appropriate” to East Asia. Most often, such scholars argue that Confucianism's emphases on humane (ren) treatment of others, reciprocal obligations, and tight-knit communities provide a powerful critique of and alternative to liberalism's atomizing tendencies. Others advocate elite-centered forms of governance that embody Confucianism's focus on education and moral virtue.