Review of: Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan

Confucianism, democratization, and human rights in Taiwan. By Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper (Lexington Books, 2013)

  Review by Joseph Yi (Hanyang University)

Since Max Weber, scholars have debated the complex relationship between Confucianism and liberal democracy.  Weber argued that a certain strain of salvation religion, namely Calvinism, influenced its adherents to follow God’s calling and to recognize the moral inadequacy of the existing world.  These ideas shaped personal behavior and facilitated the development of industrial capitalism and liberal democracy in Western Europe. In contrast, Confucianism rejected doctrines of salvation and sought to accommodate itself to the world.  Consequently, it buttressed a stagnant establishment and did little to facilitate modernity in East Asia.  

The Weberian critique of Confucianism remained the conventional wisdom, until the late twentieth century.  From the early 1960s to 1990s, the “Four Tigers” of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, Asian polities strongly influenced by Confucian thought, developed into advanced, industrial economies.  Moreover, South Korea and Taiwan developed full-fledged, constitutional democracies, with competitive elections and political turnovers (cf., Huntington 1991). Singapore also enjoys rule of law and free elections, albeit with one-party dominance.  Under PRC (China) sovereignty since 1997, Hong Kong nonetheless claims a significant degree of local autonomy, individual freedoms, and competitive legislative elections.  Since the 1980s and 1990s, China and Vietnam have also started on the road of economic, if not quite political, liberalization.

The remarkable economic and political changes have fueled a more positive, reconsideration of the role of Confucian thought, such as by Daniel Bell, Hahm Chaibong and Wei-Ming Tu.  Into this robust debate comes the valuable study by Joel Fetzer and Christopher Soper, professors of political science at Pepperdine University.  Their primary focus is on Taiwan, but they also discuss South Korea and Singapore.  They detail the histories of the three countries, and leading theories on the political liberalization of the former two nations, such as the rise of a middle class or the politics of interest groups.  Building on Weber and later Robert Putnam, Fetzer and Soper stress the often-overlooked role of ideas and cultural traditions in shaping a country’s economy and politics.

The authors argue that Confucianism, like many other religions, is malleable and open to different interpretations or emphases over time. The educational system in Taiwan emphasized different facets of Confucian thought during the authoritarian (pre-1987) and post-authoritarian eras.  Analyzing Taiwanese survey data, Fetzer and Soper demonstrate that adherence to Confucian values does not show negative effects on attitudes to democracy or free speech, at least under a democratic regime.  In 1995, adherence to Confucian values of family loyalty and social harmony did substantially undermine support for women’s rights; but by 2001, social harmony had only a slightly negative correlation, and family loyalty had a large, positive correlation, with gender equality.  Intriguingly, the social harmony value is strongly correlated with respect for the rights of indigenous Taiwanese (minority) (pp. 42-43). 

Fetzer and Soper conclude that adherence to Confucian values correspond to holding authoritarian values under autocratic regimes, but not in democratic regimes such as post-1987 Taiwan.  In a democratic regime, people identifying with Confucianism may actually be more favorable to liberal values such as women and minority rights.  This may be intriguing as a humane, Confucian model approach to ethnic diversity.  Industrialized Confucian societies (e.g., Taiwan, South Korea) are experiencing an influx of migrants from advanced and esp. developing countries (e.g., Indonesia, Vietnam).  How to accommodate and assimilate newcomers is a key political question, and Confucian ideas and scholarship can provide some guidance (see Han 2007). 

Confucianism, democratization, and human rights in Taiwan remains an excellent primer on Confucian thought and its contemporary relevance, especially in Taiwan.  Highly recommended for all. 

REFERENCES:

• Han, Kyung-Koo. 2007. “The Archaeology of the Ethnically Homogeneous Nation-State and Multiculturalism in Korea.” Korea Journal 47: 4 (winter), pp.8-31.

• Huntington, Samuel P. 1991. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.