Doh Chull Shin: Confucianism and Democratization in East Asia

摘要

To examine whether Confucianism is compatible or obstructive to democracy, one needs to undertake several important tasks. First, the meaning of Confucianism must be clearly defined. Second, what Confucianism means in terms of individual citizens' beliefs, ideas, and preferences as related to public life must be operationalized. And third, how strong these ideas, beliefs, and preferences are, and whether they are contributing to or obstructing democracy must be demonstrated with empirical data. Most of the literature on the relationship between Confucianism and democracy has, at best, achieved the first and second goals, but is seldom capable of testing these arguments with empirical data.