Alternate Civilities : Democracy And Culture In China And Taiwan

Some Asian political leaders and Western academics have recently claimed that China is unlikely to produce an open political system. This claim rests on the idea that “Confucian culture” provides an alternative to Western civil values, and that China lacked the democratic traditions and even the horizontal institutions of trust that could build a civil society. An opposed school of thought is far more optimistic about democracy, because it sees market economies of the kind China has begun to foster as pushing inexorably against authoritarian political control and reproducing Western patterns of change. Alternate Civilities argues for a different set of political possibilities. By comparing China with Taiwan’s new and vibrant democracy, it shows how democracy can grow out of Chinese cultural roots and authoritarian institutions. The business organizations, religious groups, environmental movements, and women’s networks it examines do not simply reproduce Western values and institutions. These cases point to the possibility of an alternate civility, neither the stubborn remnant of an ancient authoritarian culture, nor a reflex of market economics. They are instead the active creation of new solutions to the problems of modern life. Some Asian political leaders and Western academics have recently claimed that China is unlikely to produce an open political system. This claim rests on the idea that Confucian culture provides an alternative to Western civil values, and that China lacked the democratic traditions and even the horizontal institutions of trust that could build a civil society. An opposed school of thought is far more optimistic about democracy, because it sees market economies of the kind China has begun to foster as pushing inexorably against authoritarian political control and reproducing Western patterns of change. Alternate Civilities argues for a different set of political possibilities. By comparing China with Taiwans new and vibrant democracy, it shows how democracy can grow out of Chinese cultural roots and authoritarian institutions. The business organizations, religious groups, environmental movements, and womens networks it examines do not simply reproduce Western values and institutions. These cases point to the possibility of an alternate civility, neither the stubborn remnant of an ancient authoritarian culture, nor a reflex of market economics. They are instead the active creation of new solutions to the problems of modern life. Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Culture, Economy, and the Roots of Civil Change -- Culture and Economy -- Voluntary Associations and Civil Life -- 2 Legacies -- Philosophical Legacies and Key Terms -- Institutional Legacies -- Conclusion -- 3 The Limits to Authority -- Taiwan and the Republic of China -- The People's Republic of China -- Conclusions -- 4 Business and the Limits to Civil Association -- Social Embeddedness -- The Role of Women -- State Embeddedness -- Conclusion -- 5 Religion: Local Association and Split Market Cultures -- Local Temple Religion -- New Selves and New Moralities -- Women and Religion -- Split Market Cultures and Civil Association -- 6 Forms of Association and Social Action -- Taiwan's Environmental Movement -- The People's Republic -- 7 Alternate Civilities and Political Change -- The Bifurcation of Social Associations -- Alternate Civilities, Alternate Modernities -- Women's Leading Roles -- Associational Life and Political Transformations -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index "Some Asian political leaders and Western academics have claimed that China is unlikely to produce an open political system. This claim rests on the idea that "Confucian culture" provides an alternative to western civil values and that China lacks the democratic traditions and even the horizontal institutions of trust that could build a civil society. An opposed school of thought is far more optimistic about democracy, because it sees market economies of the kind China has begun to foster as pushing inexorably against authoritarian political control and reproducing western patterns of change."--BOOK JACKET. "Alternate Civilities argues for a different set of political possibilities. By comparing China with Taiwan's new and vibrant democracy, it shows how democracy can grow out of Chinese cultural roots and authoritarian institutions."--BOOK JACKET. Alternate Civilities is an anthropologist's answer to the argument that China's cultural tradition renders it incapable of achieving an open political system. Robert Weller draws on his knowledge of both China and Taiwan to show how such sweeping claims fail to take account of potential democratic stimuli among local-level associations such as business organizations, religious groups, environmental movements, and women's networks. These groups were pivotal in Taiwan's democratic transition, and they are thriving in the new free space that has opened up in China. They do not promise a clone of Western civil society, but they do show the possibility of an alternate civility. China's political future concerns policymakers around the world almost as much as it does 1.2 billion Chinese citizens.