Confucianism and western democracy

To facilitate further debate on the compatibility of Confucianism with Western democracy, this study makes three distinctions. The first distinction is between Confucianism as a doctrine and Confucianism as a state ideology; the second is between the democratic mechanism and the humanistic spirit; the last is among democratic, a‐democratic and anti‐democratic notions. This study defines Confucianism and Western democracy, shows their theoretical similarities and differences, examines the relationship between Confucianism as a state ideology and Chinese authoritarianism, and finally explores the impact of Confucianism on Chinese democratization. This study concludes that Confucianism is neither democratic nor anti‐democratic, but a‐democratic, and that, while not an unsurmountable obstacle to democratization, it offers little help to that process.     

Being Uniquely Universal: building Chinese international relations theory

In this paper I address the question of how Chinese scholars participate in scientific knowledge production by appropriating Western IR theories, primarily by examining interactions between North American theories that claim universality and China-specific IR efforts. Drawing on post-Mao era publications and books, I discuss how increasingly independent Chinese IR scholars are portraying their country's rising status in international politics and identifying China's national interests, while still emphasizing socialist concepts such as anti-hegemonism. The result is a form of Chinese IR scholarship that combines Western IR language with a worldview that emphasizes a modern China within the context of traditional socialist foreign policy norms. I will argue that Chinese scholarly discussions about IR theory building reflect efforts to present ‘their rising China’ (as individually perceived) in the study, research, and development of IR theory in response to the appearance of modern IR methods that require new definitions and new roles for old socialist forms. In this context, identity concerns are more important than the actual theories being established or appropriated.     

司法审查具有正当性

对司法审查正当性的探讨,学者们大多是从"民主的不信任"出发的。阅读了相关资料后,可以发现,当我们正积极呼吁建立这一制度时,在其发源地美国,学者更多的却是对它的怀疑与审视。而通过了解美国学者们对司法审查正当性的争论,梳理其司法审查的渊源及发展历程,明确美国法院在不同时期的司法审查态度与政策。可以肯定的是:尽管有许多学者怀疑司法审查的正当性并且提出深刻的理论批评,但司法审查的正当性毫无疑问。     

Foreign Policy Implications of Chinese Nationalism Revisited: the strident turn

This paper revisits the debate about foreign policy implications of Chinese nationalism in the context of China's increasingly confrontational and assertive behavior in recent years. It argues that while the Chinese government made effective efforts to control popular nationalism and Chinese foreign policy was therefore not dictated by emotional nationalistic rhetoric before 2008, it has become more willing to follow the popular nationalist calls to take a confrontational position against the Western powers and to adopt tougher measures in maritime territorial disputes with its neighbors. This strident turn is partially because the government is increasingly responsive to public opinion, but more importantly because of the convergence of Chinese state nationalism and popular nationalism calling for a more muscular Chinese foreign policy. Enjoying an inflated sense of empowerment supported by its new quotient of wealth and military capacities, and terrified of an uncertain future due to increasing social, economic and political tensions at home, the communist state has become more willing to play to the popular nationalist gallery in pursuing the so-called core national interests. These developments have complicated China's diplomacy, creating a heated political environment to harden China's foreign policy.     

政治合法性视阈中的社会主义核心价值体系

意识形态认同是执政党获取合法性的重要基础。中国社会意识形态结构的复杂化造成了对主导意识形态核心地位的冲击和统帅功能的消解，侵蚀了意识形态合法化的基本功能。社会主义核心价值体系的确立体现了执政党创新主导意识形态、推动意识形态现代性转型、构建合法性认同基础的基本诉求。     

Political Legitimacy in Contemporary China Revisited: theoretical refinement and empirical operationalization

In the first part of this article the author comments on Peter Sandby-Thomas' contribution and critically assesses his suggestion to focus on ‘legitimation’ instead of ‘legitimacy’ when investigating the Chinese political system. In the second part, the author, in an effort to refine his analytical model to study legitimacy presented in an earlier article published in this journal, argues for combining Eastonian systems analysis and policy analysis, particularly at the local level of the Chinese state. The systematic accumulation of knowledge on local policy implementation with regard to procedure, output effectiveness and public responses, undertaken from an Eastonian perspective, provides China scholars with a fruitful approach to the study of legitimacy even if some methodological pitfalls remain.     

试论邓小平政治合法性维护的实践及其启示

合法性是关系到党和国家政权生死存亡的根本问题,"文革"结束后,党和国家政权的合法性问题凸现出来,邓小平正确处理了毛泽东的意识形态遗产,开始重建法理权威,并通过促进经济发展和反腐败树立政府形象的方法,维护了政治的合法性。新时期我们仍面临着合法性维护的问题,邓小平的实践为整个现代化进程中的合法性维护提供了诸多有益启示。     

Transnational Ties,HIV/AIDS Prevention and State–Minority Relations in Sipsongpanna,Southwest China

This paper depicts the transnational ethnic and religious ties between China and Southeast Asia and examines the cultural, political and economic implications for state–minority relations in Southwest China. It documents how transnational ethnic and religious ties facilitate cultural revival among the ethnic Dai people in Southwest China and examines the impact of Buddhist networks on local governance. In particular, it portrays the cooperative relationship between the Chinese state and the Buddhist Sangha on social issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention and care. The paper argues that the Chinese state is more willing to cooperate with transnational ethnic and religious groups when the latter can help improve local governance and generate economic development, under the condition that they do not challenge the state's ultimate legitimacy and authority.     

Building International Relations Theory with Chinese Characteristics

As an atmosphere conducive for scientific inquiry and research improves in China, many Chinese scholars are optimistic about the future development of International Relations (IR) studies. A younger generation of IR scholars has started to pay more attention to IR theory and begun to research issues like national sovereignty and China's national interests. This paper reviews the development of IR theory in China and the basic arguments among Chinese scholars on theory building, especially concerning the attempt to build an IR theory with 'Chinese characteristics'. It examines the reasons for the continuing challenges, amid progress, of IR theory in China and looks into the prospects in the near future.     

Differences between traditional Chinese and Western military thinking and their philosophical roots

Recent years have witnessed a heated debate in the Chinese military academia about traditional strategic culture and its impact on modern military thinking. This article tries to analyze and explain the differences between Chinese and Western military traditions from a philosophical perspective. The authors generalize disparities in Chinese and Western military traditions in the following paradigms: ‘justice’ vs ‘interests’, ‘human factors’ vs ‘weapon factors’, and ‘stratagem’ vs ‘strength’, and make an effort to trace them to their ancient philosophical roots. In their view, the Chinese military tradition focuses on ‘man’ by stressing ethical and moral dimensions in war, valuing ‘human factor’ more than ‘weapon factor’ and preferring victory won by wisdom to victory won by brutal force. The western strategic culture, on the other hand, shows its emphasis on ‘material’ by centering on interests, weapon factor and strength in military calculations. As culture legacies, these distinctive preferences still exert influences on modern strategic thinking and military decision making.     

身份理论视域下他者对“中国模式”的学术话语体系建构

中国模式正在成为后冷战时期西方定义中国身份的一个重要话语,以西方对"中国模式"进行研究为代表的"中国模式学术话语"是这一身份建构过程中的关键性环节。西方学术界试图从经济、政治、文化、社会和历史等维度建立中国模式与中国身份之间的关联,以简单而又有明确内涵的"西方中国模式"为中国定义身份。西方"中国模式"学术话语体系的形成及扩散在一定程度上影响了中国的认知图式和身份认同叙事。为此,我们有必要从构建中国的自我身份、解构西方叙事、提升解读中国道路的话语权等方面努力,不断增强中国道路或中国模式的正当性阐释,在更高的层面上实现自我认同、自我批判与自我超越。     

西方语法学的产生早于中国语法学的原因探究

西方语法学的产生早于中国语法学的原因主要有三个方面：从语言本身看，欧洲诸语言的语法特点是形态变化丰富，汉语语法的特点是语法意义通过语序和虚词来体现；从哲学对语法学发展的影响看，欧洲哲学重逻辑，中国哲学重感悟；社会生活对语法研究的影响方面，欧洲诸国间的交往比中国与周边国家的交往更密切。     

Grand Mediation and Legitimacy Enhancement in Contemporary China—the Guang'an model

China has seen numerous instances of collective resistance in recent years. Suppression cannot stop popular resistance. It is also hard to solve all problems through the existing judicial system, administrative method or by social means. Based on a case study in Sichuan, this article studies the Grand Mediation (GM) mechanism in Guang'an as one of the ways in which the Chinese government chooses to build institutions and channel social grievances. GM is successful in containing social conflicts and helping the state to garner legitimacy by reducing people's hostility towards local government, which could enhance the CCP's legitimacy, whose paramount goal is to maintain political stability and social harmony.     

The US Global Strategy in the Post-Cold War Era and Its Implications for China‐United States Relations: A Chinese perspective

At the early stage of the post-Cold War era, Chinese scholars put more attention into the study of US international standing than to the study of US global strategy. Around the middle of the 1990s, it became obvious for Chinese scholars that the power structure in the post-Cold War era was 'yi-chao-duo-qiang' (one super-power and several big powers). People realized that the leading position of the US would be unshakable and its comprehensive national power would be unparalleled by any single country in the foreseeable future. Since then, Chinese scholars have paid more attention to the study of US global strategy. Chinese scholars tend to agree that the Bush Administration's strategy was a transitional one, and that the US global strategy in the post-Cold War era came into being in the middle of President Clinton's first term. It is symbolized by the appearance of so-called 'engagement and enlargement strategy'. At the very beginning of his Administration (January 1993), President Clinton set forth that 'economy, security and democracy' would be the three pillars of US foreign policy. This greatly changed the traditional 'security first' strategy. The new strategy reflects some new features in the international and domestic contexts of the post-Cold War era. It has very important influences on Sino‐US relations.     

政府合法性的新宪政论解读

政府合法性是政府存在、持续和发展的基础与前提,体现为社会和民众对政府、政治制度及其运行过程所构成的政治体系的自觉服从与认同。面对全球化与社会转型所带来的挑战,中国政府合法性基础正经历着考验。而新宪政论作为新兴的政治科学理论,对于政府合法性具有较透彻的解释力,并为政府合法性的维系与巩固提供了新的路径选择,即民主选举、有效政府、执政党能力建设。     

"渔夫水鬼"型故事的类型解析

“渔夫水鬼”型故事在我国民间的流播极广。把古代典籍文本 2 0多例、当代采风记录文本 80多例加以梳理和比较 ,即可看出该类型及其亚型 (水鬼仁慈型与渔夫劝阻型 )早在南宋就具雏型。此类型故事还可分别与其它故事类型拼接 ,成为一种复合状态 ;或是又加入一二个情节单元 ,使得故事更为纷繁多姿。此类型故事的特征 ,与中国鬼文化发展脉络大致相符。     

国家角色的转变与新中国养老保障政策变迁

本文借助福利多元主义的视角,分析了自改革开放以来国家角色在养老保障政策变迁中的转变。文章发现,自市场经济改革以来的国家收缩在进入新世纪之后出现了国家回归的新趋势,这一转变是社会福利供给严重失衡所导致的结构性压力与政府执政理念转变共同作用的结果。国家角色从收缩到适度回归的变化对理解中国社会政策体系的变迁轨迹及其未来发展具有重要的意义。     

Xiqu's problems in contemporary China

Xiqu, a unique Chinese song and dance theatre has been an integral part of Chinese culture for almost eight centuries. However, the traditional Chinese art is being threatened by imported artistic forms from Western countries, and is facing its greatest challenge. With the rapid decrease of xiqu audiences, a major debate concerning xiqu's future has evolved among almost all xiqu artists, theorists, and scholars. The heart of the argument is the question of how to evaluate traditional Chinese culture. In the process of China's modernization, most xiqu forms have become classical theatrical forms rather than main sources of entertainment depending on popular audiences. Therefore the forms like jingju and kunqu, which represent the essence of xiqu, should be protected; otherwise, xiqu might exist in name only in the future.     

The tangled web: does the internet offer promise or peril for the Chinese Communist Party?

This paper seeks to address the divide between political rhetoric and reality on the question of the impact of the Internet on China. Many politicians and pundits steadfastly promote the Internet as a conduit for democracy, without empirical proof to support their statements. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the debate over information technology and the Internet in China. The Chinese Communist Party is employing a number of approaches to control the Internet, from introducing numerous regulations to encouraging self‐censorship, with some success. This paper will examine state‐coordinated measures to control the use of the Internet, look at how the Internet could be making CCP rule more effective, and consider the validity of the argument that the Internet represents a threat to CCP rule.     

在"照顾"的历史表象背后——中国古代法律"照顾"女性的内在原因剖析

考察中国古代法律制度,常常会在律令法典和司法实践中发现某些对女性减轻处罚或宽松优待的规定和做法,有人将这种对女性的"照顾"完全归因于统治者受儒家思想影响而实行的"仁政"和"矜恤"政策,甚至认为这是法律对女性这一弱势群体权益的特殊保护。本文试图从社会性别的视角,对中国古代法律中对女性的种种"照顾"进行全面的审视和甄别,以挖掘法律规定表象背后隐藏着的经济、政治、社会和思想文化方面的内在原因。其实这些"照顾"不仅与儒家思想的影响有关,更反映了女性在古代中国农业生产、特别是人口再生产中的重要作用以及她们在家族中的从属地位。