Comparing Political Values in China and the West: What Can Be Learned and Why It Matters

Bell, Daniel A.

doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-051215-031821

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…The CCP of today is essentially all-powerful, at least in form, dominating as it does both state and society, with no formal constraints on its power and no formal political competition. National unity and stability remain key priorities (Pines, 2012;Zheng and Huang, 2018), and social harmony a central ideological pillar (Bell, 2017).…”

Section: Political Traditions Past and Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Legitimacy has relied on continuing to improve peoples' livelihoods (Zheng and Huang, 2018). To achieve this goal, the state bureaucracy reverted to its meritocratic traditions (Bell, 2017), grew in sophistication and expanded its scope of powers. The result was what could be termed a "bureaucratic emperor" (Zheng and Huang, 2018) or a "collective emperor" (Pines, 2012).…”

Section: Political Traditions Past and Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How May National Culture Shape Public Policy? The Case of Energy Policy in China

Andrews‐Speed¹

2022

The Energy Journal

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This paper explores how aspects of national culture may shape the design and implementation of public policy, using the example of energy policy in China. It focuses on cognitive style and on political and legal culture. China's energy policies display a combination of pragmatism, incrementalism, internal contradiction and ambiguity. This is consistent with evidence from experimental psychology and history that the development of Chinese and East Asian cognitive styles have taken a path distinct from those of Western civilizations with their Greek philosophical heritage. These variations of cognitive style between cultures are reflected in brain function and genes. Policy implementation also bears features from imperial times in the political culture of China's Communist Party and the contemporary legal system. These arguments reinforce existing calls for caution when seeking to transfer energy or other public policy approaches between countries with different cultures.

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Section: Political Traditions Past and Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Political Traditions Past and Presentmentioning

confidence: 99%

How May National Culture Shape Public Policy? The Case of Energy Policy in China

Andrews‐Speed¹

2022

The Energy Journal

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“…In contrast to the institutional account, the cultural account emphasizes the authoritarian political norms in China (Bell 2017;J. Chan 2013;Jiang 2018;Shi 2001Shi , 2014.…”

Section: Institutional and Cultural Accountsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinship Ties to Government Staff and Local Political Trust: Evidence from Rural China

Chen

2021

Sociological Perspectives

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Drawing on the Rural Socioeconomic Survey in China, we for the first time present descriptive information about Chinese citizens’ kinship ties to local government staff in rural areas, where around 40 percent of the respondents have at least one close relative in the family working in the local government. On average, such kinship ties have a significant but negative correlation with both the trust in staff of local township and county governments, and the trust in staff of judicial, legislative, and public security agencies. This negative effect, however, is not linearly additive with the number of kinship ties. Taken together, these findings lend support to the negative association between local kinship embeddedness and confidence in local official staff, highlighting a relational approach to understanding political trust in Chinese society.

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“…Bell's notice. Bell (2013Bell ( , 2015Bell ( , 2017 has long been a strong critic of liberal democracy and an advocate of Confucian ethics, political meritocracy, and the China model. He contends that Western liberal democracy, based on a "one man, one vote" principle, has four key flaws: tyranny of the majority; tyranny of the economic minority; tyranny of the voting community at the cost of the nonvoters, such as future generations and foreigners; and tyranny of competitive individualists over those who favor a harmonious way of resolving social conflict (Bell 2015).…”

Section: Political Meritocracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Confucian Political Theory in Contemporary China

Yin

2018

Annu. Rev. Polit. Sci.

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This article discusses what traditional Confucian political theory represents and how it is reconstructed by contemporary Confucians to cope with the various challenges that it faces in modern times. Specifically, I examine the school of New Confucianism in Taiwan and Hong Kong, political Confucianism and civic Confucianism in mainland China, and the theory of Confucian political meritocracy. I then analyze how the Communist Party of China attempts to promote Confucianism in order to consolidate its authoritarian rule and what damage this may cause to resurgent Confucianism. Finally, I evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and suggest some areas of interest for further exploration.

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Comparing Political Values in China and the West: What Can Be Learned and Why It Matters

Cited by 15 publications

References 43 publications

How May National Culture Shape Public Policy? The Case of Energy Policy in China

How May National Culture Shape Public Policy? The Case of Energy Policy in China

Kinship Ties to Government Staff and Local Political Trust: Evidence from Rural China

Confucian Political Theory in Contemporary China

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