Civilization and the Chinese Body Politic

In this important and hugely ambitious book, one of the world's leading political scientists working on China demonstrates how Western views of China are flawed because the long tradition of Western scholarship studying China views China from the Western philosophical and intellectual perspective.

Autorentext

Yongnian Zheng is Professor and Director of the Institute for International Affairs, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.

Klappentext

In this important and hugely ambitious book, one of the world's leading political scientists working on China demonstrates how Western views of China are flawed because the long tradition of Western scholarship studying China views China from the Western philosophical and intellectual perspective rather than viewing China on its own terms through the lens of China's own long-established and reputable philosophical and intellectual tradition. Providing a deep analysis of Western scholarship on China, including work from Leibniz to Marx to Weber and then to Wittfogel, and a thorough account of the evolution of China's own thinking about governance as expressed in the practices of successive Chinese dynasties, the book goes on to examine how the current Chinese body politic fits with and is the natural outcome of China's own long, well-thought-through and well-practiced intellectual consideration of what the nature of civilized governance should be. By focusing on philosophical and intellectual approaches rather than on theoretical or methodological ones, the book shows how the huge and increasing disconnect between non-Chinese views of China and Chinese ones has come about.

Inhalt

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface and Acknowledgments

PART ONE

Oriental Despotism

1 Oriental Despotism and Its Problems in China Studies

2 Oriental Despotism and Its Origins: Europe and Imperial China

3 Oriental Despotism From the Ancient Greeks to the Enlightenment

4 Oriental Despotism Since the 19th Century

PART TWO

The Chinese Body Politic: Its Formation and Evolution

5 Secularism and Political Order

6 Social Natural Law

7 The Emperorship

8 Institutional Differentiation and Internal Pluralism

9 Imperial Politics and Its Constraints

10 Meritocracy and StateSociety Connections

11 Education, Social Distinction, and Equality

12 Meritocratic Institutions and Their Evolution

13 Inequality, Representation, and Responsibilities

14 Bureaucrats and Civil Society

PART THREE

Modern Transformation

15 Modern Revolution and Political Power

16 Nationalism, Sovereignty, and Modern Party Power

17 Organizational Emperorship

PART FOUR

Contemporary Institutions

18 Structuring Politics

19 The New Paradigm

20 Bringing Back the Power of Supervision

21 PartySociety Linkages

22 A Party in Society

23 Society and Interest Representation

24 A Theory of Moral Loyalty

25 The Chinese State and Western State Products

26 Political Reforms: Grand Discourse and Little Truth

27 Forms of Political Reform

PART FIVE

The Future of the Chinese Body Politic

28 A Tocquevillian Dilemma

29 Scenarios of Political Change

Bibliography

Index