THE CHINESE MODEL OF DEMOCRACY AS LIBERAL DEMOCRACY'S MAJOR COMPETITOR

John C Reitz

The People's Republic of China officially refers to its current system of governance as democracy with Chinese characteristics. This Article seeks to understand that claim and foster trans-Pacific discussion by focusing first on the differences and then on the similarities between the Chinese model and the model of liberal democracy embraced in much of the rest of the world. The first part of this Article examines the ways in which the Chinese model concentrates power in a rejection of what I argue to be the key features of liberal democracy. The first part of this Article also seeks to explain the development of the different view of democracy in China through a brief and tentative comparison of the different historical and intellectual developments in China and in the West, where liberal democracy first developed. This Article argues that the differences in attitudes regarding the power of political and moral education to overcome the individual's self-seeking behavior are especially important. The strong Confucian belief in the power of education appears to have played an important role in rationalizing great concentrations of power in China. In the West, Lord Acton's maxim epitomizes the thinking that education is never enough; structural limitations provided by such institutions as regular, open, and competitive elections are necessary to protect against tyranny and corruption. The Chinese model is thus the major competitor for liberal democracy, at least for the fifth of the world's population that lives in China. Nevertheless, the second part of this Article seeks to show that the Chinese are not so different because we share concerns about such important issues as the dangers of unguided populism, the politicization of the judiciary through constitutional review, and the problem of the role of money in politics. We therefore can and should learn from each other by discussing our respective conceptions of good governance.

THE CHINESE MODEL OF DEMOCRACY AS LIBERAL DEMOCRACY'S MAJOR COMPETITOR

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