Political Thought and China s Transformation

Transcription

1 Political Thought and China s Transformation

2 Politics and Development of Contemporary China As China s power grows, the search has begun in earnest for what superpower status will mean for the People s Republic of China as a nation as well as the impact of its new-found influence on the Asia-Pacific region and the global international order at large. By providing a venue for exciting and groundbreaking titles, the aim of this series is to explore the domestic and international implications of China s rise and transformation through a number of key areas, including politics, development, and foreign policy. The series will also give a strong voice to non-western perspectives on China s rise in order to provide a forum that connects and compares the views of academics from both the east and west reflecting the truly international nature of the discipline. Series Editors Kevin Cai, Renison University College, University of Waterloo, Canada Pan Guang, Shanghai Center for International Studies and Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, China Daniel C. Lynch, School of International Relations, University of Southern California, USA Titles include: Nadine Godehardt THE CHINESE CONSTITUTION OF CENTRAL ASIA Regions and Intertwined Actors in International Relations Robert Weatherley MAKING CHINA STRONG The Role of Nationalism in Chinese Thinking on Democracy and Human Rights Shaoying Zhang and Derek McGhee SOCIAL POLICIES AND ETHNIC CONFLICT IN CHINA Lessons from Xinjiang Bart Dessein (editor) INTERPRETING CHINA AS A REGIONAL AND GLOBAL POWER Nationalism and Historical Consciousness in World Politics He Li POLITICAL THOUGHT AND CHINA S TRANSFORMATION Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China Politics and Development of Contemporary China Series Standing Order ISBN (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

3 Political Thought and China s Transformation Ideas Shaping Reform in Post-Mao China He Li Professor of Political Science, Merrimack College, USA

4 He Li 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

5 To Naifang Lu and Bowen Li

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7 Contents List of Tables A Note on Spelling Acknowledgments x xi xii Introduction: Ideas and China s Transformation 1 Significance of the intellectual discourse 2 Contending debates among the Chinese intellectuals 5 Organization of the book 9 Part I Contemporary Chinese Political Thought 1 Liberalism 15 Early spread and reemergence of liberalism 16 The liberal discourse 19 Implications of the spread of liberalism 22 Factors undermining liberalism in China 25 Conclusion 28 2 Neo-authoritarianism 31 The rise of neo-authoritarianism 31 Huntington s influence on the rise of neo-authoritarianism in China 32 Debate in the 1980s 34 The advent of neo-conservatism 37 Official party ideology and neo-authoritarianism 39 Policy response 40 Neo-authoritarianism 2.0? 40 Will neo-authoritarianism work for China? 43 Conclusion 45 3 China s New Left 46 The advent of the New Left 47 Influence of Western ideas 48 Rediscovery of Mao s legacy 49 Rethinking the Cultural Revolution 51 Bringing state socialism back in 53 Criticizing universal values 55 vii

8 viii Contents Promoting the China Model 56 The rise and fall of the Chongqing Model 57 Conclusion 59 4 Democratic Socialism 60 Origins and early history 60 Spread of social democracy in China 61 Intellectual discourse on social democracy 64 Constitutional government 65 Democratic socialism as the orthodox Marxism 66 Reassessment of capitalism 67 Farewell to revolution 68 Swedish model of social democracy 69 Critiques from the Left and the Right 70 Beyond Left and Right? 73 Could democratic socialism make a difference? 76 Conclusion 77 5 New Confucianism 79 Revival of Confucianism 80 Major approaches 81 Confucian Marxism 82 Confucian liberalism 84 Political Confucianism 86 Integration of three traditions? 89 Future of New Confucianism 91 Conclusion 93 Part II Intellectual Discourse on Critical Issues 6 Chinese Intellectual Discourse on Democracy 97 Chinese discourse on democracy 98 Democracy with Chinese characteristics 98 Inner-party democracy (dangnei minzhu) 101 Promoting democracy through good governance 102 Single-party democracy 103 Rule by law (Fazhi) 103 Deliberative democracy 104 Liberal discourse on democracy 106 Liberal democracy is the best available form of government 106 Rule of the law 108 Limited government 108 Fundamental political reform 109 New Left s perspective on democracy 109 Skeptical view of liberal democracy 110

9 Contents ix Government is a necessary virtue 111 Marxism not human rights is a universal value 112 Conclusion Debating China s Economic Reform 115 Origins of the debate 116 Thedebateoneconomicreform 117 Market vs. State 117 Globalism vs. Nationalism 119 Growth vs. Equity 122 Efficiency vs. Fairness 123 Debate on property law 124 Impacts and policy implications 126 Conclusion Debate over Legitimacy 133 Legitimacy crisis: Myth or reality 134 Sources of legitimacy 136 Debates on possible solutions to legitimacy crisis 140 Liberal discourse 140 The New Left perspective 141 Discourse of political Confucianism 143 Impacts of the scholarly discourse on legitimacy 146 Conclusion Conclusion: Fragmentation and Consensus 150 Intellectual discourse and state ideological control 151 Fragmentation and consensus among Chinese scholars 155 Impacts of intellectual discourse 156 Concluding remarks 157 Notes 160 Selected Bibliography 192 Index of Chinese Names and Phrases 201 Subject and Name Index 205

10 Tables I.1 Gongshi net survey on schools of thought Transition from authoritarianism to liberal democracy LeftorRight? Third way: Democratic socialism Chinese discourse on democracy Debates on economic reforms Trilateral parliament proposed by Jiang Qing 144 x

11 A Note on Spelling Throughout this volume, Chinese names are always ordered according to the standard practice in China, where surname precedes given names. I use pinyin for Chinese names and places except for Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek, who are better known by these names than their names in pinyin. xi

12 Acknowledgments Writing this book about the intellectual discourse in China has been a more difficult task than I envisaged. The book was written over a stretch of eight years. Like my other books, this one has spent a long time in coming to fruition. This project started in 2008, when I spent four months at the East Asian Institute (EAI) of the National University of Singapore, where I enjoyed the hospitality of Yang Dali, Zheng Yongnian, Wang Gungwu, and John Wong and learned from my colleagues including Bo Zhiyue, Lye Liang Fook, Guo Liangping, Zhao Litao, You Ji, Sarah Y Tong, Kong Qingjiang, Huang Jing, Wang Feiling, Huang Yanzhong, Sheng Yuming, Xing Yuqing, Yang Mu, Lam Pin Er, Chen Gang, Cheng Yinghong, Xia Ming, Wu Guoguang, Qi Dongtao, Qian Jiwei, Tseng Hui-yi, Chiang Min-hua, Yu Hong, Shan Wei, Su Fubin, and Yang Guobin. My stint at the EAI in 2011 was productive and enjoyable as well. Much of my conceptualizing took place during my stay at the EAI in both 2008 and I thank the Henry Luce Foundation for offering me a generous grant and residency at the School for Advanced Research (SAR) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. SAR provided me with excellent facilities and intellectual atmosphere for the research and writing. I was able to discuss various issues regarding this research project with scholars from different parts of the world, including David Stuard, Jason De Leon, Kent Blansett, Laurie Kain Hart, Amy Joy Lonetree, Islah Mohammad Jad, Philippe Bourgois, George Karandinos, Abigail Winslow Bigham, and Jon Daehnke. I also owe special thanks to Merrimack College, my home institution, for supporting my scholarly work on this book with Faculty Development grants and travel support. I express my thanks to Victoria Zhuang at Harvard University for her generosity in careful reading of the earlier version of the entire manuscript. I am forever grateful to my late parents, Li Deren and Huang Juehe, who taught me both to value learning and to appreciate those things that cannot be found in the books and to William Glade and Tom Jannuzi for teaching me how to read and think as an area specialist. I owe Naifang, my wife, and Bowen, my son, a huge debt of gratitude for their loving encouragement, understanding, and support during the long and arduous journey of this book to whom it is dedicated. This book draws on some previous work that has been substantially revised and updated. An earlier version of Chapter 2 appeared as Liberalism and China s Reform, in Zhiqun Zhu, ed., The People s Republic of China Today: Internal and External Challenges (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2010), An earlier version of Chapter 4 appeared as The xii

13 Acknowledgments xiii Chinese Discourse on Social Democracy, in Baogang Guo and He Li, eds., The Chinese Labyrinth: Exploring China s Model of Development (Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books, 2012), An earlier version of Chapter 6 appeared as Chinese Intellectual Discourse on Democracy, Journal of Chinese Political Science (September 2014): An earlier version of Chapter 7 appeared as Debating China s Economic Reform: Liberals vs. New Leftists, Journal of Chinese Political Science, 15, no.1 (March 2010): I am very grateful to the editors of these journals and publishers for their permission to use copyright materials. I am deeply grateful to Baogang Guo, Guoli Liu, Fujia Lu, Yijing Wen, Heping Zhao, Joy Zhao, Xiaogang Deng, Curtis Martin, Gavril Bilev, Alison Russell, Harry Wessel, and Russell Mayer for their valuable comments as well as for their unstinting support and friendship. I am also grateful to an anonymous reviewer who wrote a detailed review with many useful suggestions that have now been incorporated into the book. Finally, special thanks to the staff at Palgrave Macmillan for working with me to produce this book.