Beyond Confucian Perfectionism and Democracy

LSE Philosophy Research Fellow Bryan Cheang and Daniel Ho (University of Arizona) have published their new paper "Beyond Confucian Perfectionism and Democracy: The Cultural Knowledge Problem and Liberal Polycentrism in East Asia" in The Review of Politics.

Theorists have responded to the challenge of pluralism in East Asia by either advocating a less-demanding form of Confucianism or neutral liberal democratic institutions. In this article, the authors propose a novel proposal that prioritises “exit-based” institutional mechanisms and accepts the pluralist’s preference for an anti-perfectionist regime without being committed to political democracy.