Confucianism And Party Politics Of East Asian Countries

Culture is closely related to party politics.Certain culture has certain party politics,and certain party politics carries certain culture.The Confucianism originated in China and deeply influenced the development of party politics of east Asian countries with the cultural elements full of spirit and vitality.Experience shows,the rise of partypolitics in east Asian countries reflects the great changes of the country under the impact of western civilization.But institutional change does not mean the disappearance of Confucianism.The basic characteristics of national organization and system can be found from regional cultural types,and the uniqueness of party politics in east Asia can't be separated from the intergenerational influence of Confucianism.From the perspective of the relationship between culture and system,Confucianism has deeply influenced the basic characteristics of party politics in east Asian countries and it is the cultural origin of the uniqueness of party culture in east Asian countries.The characteristics and difficulties of the modernization transformation of party politics in east Asian countries are also hidden in the basic character of Confucianism.This paper is a comprehensive study on the party politics of the three countries and Confucianism in Japan,South Korea and Singapore.It aims to analyze culture genes about the origin and evolution of party politics of "the three countries of east Asia",namely,Japan,South Korea and Singapore.To deepen the understanding of Confucianism's meaning as a whole and special value in the development of party politics of "the three countries of east Asia".To accurately grasp the culture support and basic direction of modernization transformation of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia",hoping to get enlightening theoretical thinking and strategy choice.Based on such research objects and academic points,the analysis framework of full-text is divided into five chapters,except "introduction" and "conclusion".The first part is the introduction,the first chapter explains the related concepts and basic theories of party politics and Confucianism,chapter two to chapter four discusses the influence of Confucianism on party politics and its characteristics in Japan,Korea and Singapore,the fifth chapter studies the dilemma and outlet of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia",the last part is the conclusion.The thesis mainly demonstrates and expounds the following important points.1.The influence that Confucianism plays a part in party politics of "the three countries of east Asia" is persistent.The original state of political parties in east Asia has set the initial path for the development of the party and deeply influenced the future of party politics.In the sense of concept culture,traditional Confucian culture has maintained a lasting vitality and influence in "the three countries of east Asia",and its continuity is not interrupted by the appearance of party politics.This not only reflects the nature of culture,but also reflects the "path dependence" of institutional change on the historical tradition.From the perspective of party politics,the "daily and unknown" attitude,thinking and emotion orientation that Confucianism contains constraints the thought and action of the elites imperceptibly,and through the elite's activities of party building into the party politics.In the form of party organization,the early political parties still retain the shadow of the faction,and retain the traditional interpersonal relationship mode,thus creating the situation for the continuous of Confucianism,especially the authoritarianism.In terms of political party system,traditional elite politics led to a relatively closed political party system,it avoids the challenge of social culture because of the lack of a response to society,thus formed a relatively stable internal cultural ecology.2.The Confucianism has shaped the uniqueness of party culture in "the three countries of east Asia" at the party system level and the democratic process level.Party culture refers to the specific ideas and mind that party members and party organization hold,it is the cognitive and emotional orientation which is shown at party system level and democratic process mediated by political party.At the first level,party culture reflects the cognition and emotion on different types of party system,namely,the party elites,party organizations and relationship between political parties.At the second level,it reflects the cognition and emotion on political party's role and function,that is to say,party and the state,party and society.The unique temperament of the east Asian party culture can be found in the Confucianism,and it is presented through the integration of the Confucianism and party politics.This reflects the dialectical relationship between the universality and particularity of contradiction.In general,the party culture of "the three countries of east Asia" shows the continuation of the ancient Confucian concept in the modern political field.3.Confucianism played a very important role in promoting the stability and continuity of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia".In the process of modern western democratic thoughts impact on the rest of the world civilization centers,as well as the party developed in European and American region,the Confucian culture circle is one of the civilization centers that establish stable party politics.From a large cultural environment,this is related to the spirit of inclusiveness of Confucianism.It embodies the open mentality of the political elite and the political apathy of the people,which created the social space for "trial by mistake" of party politics.Also,it is owed to the special institutional conditions that Confucianism formed.On the one hand,Confucianism have long been achieved "national mature",this kind of country provides important soil for political party system as a secondary system,making the party political process is not interrupted by various forces constructing country.On the other hand,as secular culture,Confucian society are more likely to accept the national reconstruction plan with strong sense of reality and concordant spirit,avoiding the influence of the religious power and approving the civil service system for national governance,so that it undermined the legitimacy of the military regime.4.The negative factors of Confucianism influence the developmental quality of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia",and it is the deep root of the dilemma that party modernization faces.Some aspects of Confucianism are the important cultural reasons for "low innovation,low institutionalization,low democracy and low modernity"of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia".First,Party politics is not sufficiently innovative.Since the second world war,the political party system has not changed in many key features.Stability also means conservatism.If a political system more adheres to traditional values,it generates less political products,which means less political innovation and less political reform.Second,the institutionalization of party politics is low.In party culture of "the three countries of east Asia",emotional factors are more easily aroused in the strained relationship between "emotion" and "rational cognition".Thus,east Asian political parties even if want to construct the institutionalization of authoritarianism,and it is hard to turn the authority which constructed in human character,human relations to which constructed in the functional role and organization relationship,promoting the rationalization of authoritarianism.Emotional factors have contributed to the intolerance and disrespect of the east Asian political parties,which is the reason that there are no institutionalized channels of negotiation and compromise between political parties.Thirdly,it limits the democratic functions of political party.Under the influence of authoritarianism,party largely deviated from the democratic function that it should play as the organization,it became the tool of the leader with authority(or dictator).Because the influence of patriarchal culture,after the party wins the legitimacy from the social,it plays parent role instead of bureaucracy,controlling the development of society,and finally the society becomes attachment of party.Finally,it restricts the modernization of party politics.In this process,it presents the characteristics of "two low and one high",that is to say,the factors that based on "historical bias" are falling,the political legitimacy based on charisma of a leader is weakening,the breadth and depth that society participates in politics is increasing.However,at least for now,the above-mentioned characteristics are not obvious in the process of modernization in east Asia,or there are big differences with the west.5.The modern transformation of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia" is based on the construction of party organization,and the creative inheritance and innovation of Confucianism are necessary.The process that party politics realize modernization in "the three countries of east Asia" is a process that parties overcome the adverse impact of Confucianism,and play a beneficial ingredient,it is also the process that the construction of modern party organization pattern combine with the creative inheritance and innovation of Confucianism effectively.Whether this process can be realized affects east Asian modernization process.From the existing experience,modern party organizations can effectively use the excellent genes of traditional Confucian culture and transform the negative impact.This is the fundamental premise and vitality of the modern transformation of party politics in "the three countries of east Asia".The key node of this kind of combination between political party organization and Confucian concept culture include three things:To prevent the negative influence of authoritarianism on the stability of political party system through party organization;Though the construction of party organization to make the people-oriented thought effectively;Improving the party mechanism is the key to irradiate the vitality of sage politics.On the cultural development,it should highlight and emphasize the tolerance of Confucianism,cultivate the participated political culture actively,and develop the modern spirit of rule of law,and finally realizes the open form and self-renewing vitality of the political party culture.On the whole,party politics of "the three countries of east Asia" showed the existence of the diverse party politics in the world,shows the different types of party culture has its own vitality,and also with the development of specific problems.Party politics of east Asia influenced by Confucianism is different from the western mode of national governance,its key issues of development path,system features and cultural character is not how to cater to the value of western culture,but to face up to their old culture gene,and facing the modern society to update itself.Based on the experience of local history,western society believes that in contemporary national governance,western-style democracy means development,while authoritarianism means the failure of the state and society.Therefore,under cover of Confucianism,party politics will either inevitably be a short stage that leads to the western Democratic Party politics path,or collapse in its own confusion.Looking back at the history of development of party politics in east Asia,from the perspective of relationship between culture and institution,many difficulties and challenges facing east Asian party politics are closely related to many ideas of Confucianism.But the experience of development of east Asian parties also shows that,Confucianism serves as a "lubricant" for political parties and social relations,leaving room for political parties to survive the crisis.Also,east Asian countries that explicitly rejected"western-style democracy" realized the self-renewal and strength of the political parties through the creative application of Confucianism.Therefore,under the influence of Confucianism,party politics of east Asia will not be a choice of "two-must",but through its own characteristics and value proposition to announce the different path and realistic possibility of party politics to the world.