Confucian democracy

Is there any way to convert European or Latin American-styled Christian Democracy or Turkey's AKP's Muslim democracy into a uniquely Chinese sort?
 
Is there any way to convert European or Latin American-styled Christian Democracy or Turkey's AKP's Muslim democracy into a uniquely Chinese sort?

Humm... maybe if Imperial rule lasts and forms a 'constitutional monarchy' with a confucian civil service....

I really like this idea :D
 
What are "christian" and "muslim" democracies? I'm not sure that's a good way of describing them.

Christian Democracy is basically the German center-right - following Christian guidelines, but not going all Pat Robertson. Muslim Democracy is practically the same thing - simply replace the churches with the mosques. Turkey and Germany are the chief examples.
 
Christian Democracy is basically the German center-right - following Christian guidelines, but not going all Pat Robertson. Muslim Democracy is practically the same thing - simply replace the churches with the mosques. Turkey and Germany are the chief examples.

I don't think he meant the Continental European ideology though seeing as he seems to be grouping it with a wider Latin American sphere. Also I don't know if I would describe Turkey's government as anything like that seeing as they keep very strict checks on the mosques- in that case it's the other way around, really; secular principles governing religious practice.
 
I don't think he meant the Continental European ideology though seeing as he seems to be grouping it with a wider Latin American sphere. Also I don't know if I would describe Turkey's government as anything like that seeing as they keep very strict checks on the mosques- in that case it's the other way around, really; secular principles governing religious practice.

Well, a Muslim Democrat holds both the Government and the Presidency, so it's more of a balance, agitation from the radical old guard notwithstanding.
 
A true Confucian democracy would not have universal suffrage. Only men with PhDs would be allowed to vote.

Not necessarily- take the Singaporean model for example. It's not the franchise that matters- it's the selection of representatives and the Civil Service. Everyone would be able to vote, but only sufficiently qualified people would be allowed to stand for office (and this doesn't just mean PhDs- someone recognised as an authority in a particular field would be eligible too)

Basically in a Confucian democracy, merit (through academic results and performance) would govern the selection of political candidates. Using the Singaporean example, what happens is often that high-achieving people get given undergraduate scholarships, progress through university and then work for the issuer of their scholarship (either a private company or the Civil Service). A decade or so down the road, some of these people then tend to get headhunted by the ruling party to stand as Members of Parliament.

This, of course, is an example from a country with a dominant-party system but in a multiparty Confucian democracy, the cultural view might well still be the same. You'd see the various parties each courting potential highly-qualified candidates to stand for office and selecting Cabinet Members based on prior experience. In effect this would be the opposite of a populist system.
 
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Interesting... I thought about how much common ground you could find between the EPP-ED parties of Europe, Turkish AKP and East Asian rightists exists that they could form a common club in a global parliament, maybe even with Likud and Fatah... *runaway*


  • Opposition to the omnipresent socialist, social democratic and labour parties.
  • Doing policies for an at least no-so-much-urban middle class, supporting suburban and rural goals opposed to inner-city decadency.
  • Any further ideas?
 
Interesting... I thought about how much common ground you could find between the EPP-ED parties of Europe, Turkish AKP and East Asian rightists exists that they could form a common club in a global parliament, maybe even with Likud and Fatah... *runaway*


  • Opposition to the omnipresent socialist, social democratic and labour parties.
  • Doing policies for an at least no-so-much-urban middle class, supporting suburban and rural goals opposed to inner-city decadency.
  • Any further ideas?

Define "rightists". Most East Asian conservative parties tend to be quite happy with an urban middle class and tend to want to compromise with labour as opposed to antagonising it.
 
Well, the public housing project of Singapore which makes rental housing virtually non-existent seems actually like an "society of owners approach" which could be interpreted as supporting the emergence and survival of a suburbia that is just built vertically.

And "inner-city decadency", well, just compared to a perceived socio-cultural decadency of the common political left (morale politics, if nothing else), that's why I left to labour vs. capital rationale away. Damn, I try to converge culturally diverse forms of perceived center-right politics to a common ground that encompasses just as much deputies of a world parliament that it's big enough to challenge the combined moderate left club which would otherwise be the undisputed biggest single club in such a global parliament. That's hard enough.
 
Interesting... I thought about how much common ground you could find between the EPP-ED parties of Europe, Turkish AKP and East Asian rightists exists that they could form a common club in a global parliament, maybe even with Likud and Fatah... *runaway*


  • Opposition to the omnipresent socialist, social democratic and labour parties.
  • Doing policies for an at least no-so-much-urban middle class, supporting suburban and rural goals opposed to inner-city decadency.
  • Any further ideas?

It could be a global Communitarian conference.
 

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It's not that a Confucian democracy can't happen, you just have to get rid of the "Emperor is the Son of the Heaven" bit. I think that's why we have seen democracy fade better i other Asian countries then China where Confucianism lack it's religous parts.
 
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