Bell Daniel A., Beyond Liberal Democracy, Political Thinking for an East Asian Context

Abstract

Translated by Peter Brown This work by Daniel A. Bell can be seen as a provocative attempt to show that there are morally legitimate alternatives in East Asia to a Western-style liberal democracy. In the writer's view, it is vital to take the local cultural context into account if one is to think of spreading human rights, democracy and capitalism.

Breaking the Mold: Normative Hybridity as the Key to Contemporary “Non-Western” Political Theorizing

“…4 However, developing a relevant theory for present societies requires the theory to 3 For instance, the development of a normative system to provide prescriptive direction to the present and future African societies is the central aspiration of contemporary African political theorists, such as Eze (2008;, Gyekye (1997), Mbembe (2001;), Menkiti (1984, Okeja (2022), Taiwo (2004), Wiredu (19961998). Likewise, in Confucian political theory, prominent East Asian or East Asia-based political theorists, such as Bai (2019), Bell (2006;, Bell and Pei (2020), Chan (2014), Ci (2019), Jiang (2012), Kim (2014;2018;, Kwon (2022), O'Dwyer (2019), and Tan (2004 have given considerable weight to the advancement of political theories specifically tailored to the needs and circumstances of contemporary East Asian societies. 4 The academic stance of these political theorists sharply contrasts with the notion of theory recently proposed by Jenco who argues that theories consist of "the deterritorialization of ideas to produce new and broader insight into social and political conditions elsewhere" (Jenco 2016, 4, my emphasis).…”

Cultural values, system justification, meritocratic beliefs, and evaluations of governments' performance in handling the COVID‐19 crisis

“…Meritocracy is not confined to working as a rule for distribution in only economic and social fields, but also constructs relationships between authorities and ordinary people in the political field. Meritocracy in the political field presumes that the common people do not possess necessary capabilities to "make morally informed political judgments" and only those with high abilities are qualified to participate in politics (Bell, 2006(Bell, , 2016. As a result, the masses have a low level of political efficacy and view themselves as incapable of understanding and participating in "complex" politics.…”

“…In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese government claims its political system to be superior to its democratic counterparts in terms of infection prevention and control (Zhai et al, 2022). Furthermore, China's political system is characterized by one-party authoritarian rule and meritocracy in the selection of government officials rather than through open elections (Bell, 2006(Bell, , 2016. We examine how system justification and meritocratic beliefs affect public evaluations of government performance in handling the COVID-19 crisis.…”

Values in China as Compared to Africa: Two Conceptions of Harmony

“…Despite the influence of ideas such as an impersonal Heaven (emphasized in Yao 2000) and ancestral deities (emphasized in Qingxin , what is salient not only in the work of Confucian moral philosophers and ethicists writing in the twentyfirst century (e.g., Shun and Wong 2004;Bell 2006;Angle 2012;Bai 2013;Li 2013;Chan 2014), but also in the lives of everyday people, are more secular considerations about how morally to relate to other human beings. On this score, consider the influential work of the Chinese Cultural Connection (1987), a large group of social scien-tists who developed a values survey specifically for Chinese people informed by values deemed characteristic of them.…”