Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T15:28:22.227Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Limits of Anti-Liberalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2010

Barrett L. McCormick  and
David Kelly
Get access

Extract

Scholars in china and chinese studies commonly think of culture as an autonomous and transcendental force that defines agents and institutions and determines the outcome of events. They often conclude that China's allegedly illiberal authoritarian culture inevitably generates authoritarian politics. In this article we will bring culture down to earth by arguing that it is not transcendental but entangled in reciprocal relationships with various social institutions, not the least of which are politics and political institutions. If culture is not fixed in a realm beyond everything else, then rehearsing traditional accounts of traditional culture is not enough to distinguish the range of possible futures. Instead, we have to look at why people have the ideas they have and how they can and might change.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , August 1994 , pp. 804 - 831
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Hannah, Arendt. 1951. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Meridian Books—The World Publishers.Google Scholar
Hannah, Arendt. 1961. Between Past and Future: Six Exercises in Political Thought. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Baixing, . 1992. In “Behind the CCP Princes Party,” Baixing (HK), March 16:32–35. Trans, in Inside China Mainland, May 1992:6-10.Google Scholar
Geremie, Barmé. 1991. “An Iron Fist in a Velvet Prison: Literature in Post-June 1989 China.” China News Analysis 144 (September 15): 1–9.Google Scholar
Geremie, Barmé, and Jaivin, Linda, eds. 1991. New Ghosts, Old Dreams. New York: Times Books.Google Scholar
George, Black, and Munro, Robin. 1993. Black Hands of Beijing: Lives of Defiance in China's Democracy Movement. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Judith, Brett. “The Headless Chook's Party.” The Sydney Morning Herald (July 31, 1993) p. 43.Google Scholar
Yang, Bo. 1992. The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis of Chinese Culture. North Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Pierre, Bourdieu. 1977. “The Economics of Linguistic Exchange.” Social Science Information 16.6 (September-October):645–68.Google Scholar
Xiaoming, Chen. 1992. “Baoshouxing yu hefahua” (Conservatism and legitimization). Zhongguo Luntan (Taibei) 32.5 (February):93–97.Google Scholar
Cohen, Jean L., and Arato, Andrew. 1992. Civil Society and Political Theory. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press:31–36.Google Scholar
Zhenglai, Deng. 1992. “Constructing Chinese Civil Society.” Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Jikan (Chinese Social Sciences Quarterly) 92.1 (November 1992): 58–68.Google Scholar
Michel, Foucault. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-77. Brighton: Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Frentzel-ZagŌRska, Janina, and ZagŌRski, Krzysztof. 1989. “Eastern European Intellectuals on the Road of Dissent: The Old Prophecy of a New Class Re-examined.” Politics and Society 17.1:89–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edward, Friedman. 1992. “Comparative Political Lessons for Democratizing China.” In Shaozhi, Su, ed., Lun Zhidu Xuanze (On the Choice of System). China:n.p.Google Scholar
Edward, Friedman. 1994. “Reconstructing China's National Identity: A Southern Alternative to Mao-Era Anti-Imperialist Nationalism.” The Journal of Asian Studies 53.1 (February):67–91.Google Scholar
Garton-Ash, Timothy. 1990. “Budapest: The Last Funeral.” In Magic Lantern: The Revolution of 89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin and Prague. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Clifford, Geertz. 1983. Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology. New York: Basic Books, Inc.Google Scholar
Vladimir, Gligorov. 1991. “The Discovery of Liberalism in Yugoslavia.” Eastern European Politics and Societies 5.1 (Winter):5–25.Google Scholar
Merle, Goldman. 1991. “Hu Yaobang's Intellectual Network and the Theory Conference of 1979.” China Quarterly 126 (June):219–42.Google Scholar
David, Goodman. 1991. “Introduction: The Authoritarian Outlook.” In Goodman, D. and Segal, G., eds., China in the Nineties: Crisis Management and Beyond. Oxford: Clarendon Press: 1–18.Google Scholar
Antonio, Gramsci. 1971. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Halpern, Nina P. 1991. “Economic Reform, Social Mobilization and Democratization in Post-Mao China.” In Baum, Richard, ed., Reform and Reaction in Post-Mao China. New York: Routledge, pp. 38–59.Google Scholar
Hanson, Stephen E. 1991. “Gorbachev: The Last True Leninist Believer?” In Chirot, Daniel, ed., The Crisis of Leninism and the Decline of the Left: The Revolutions of 1989. Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 33–59.Google Scholar
MiklŌS, Haraszti. 1988. The Velvet Prison. London: Tauris.Google Scholar
VĀClav, Havel. 1988. “The Power of the Powerless.” In V. Havel, The Power of the Powerless: Citizens Against the State in Central-Eastern Europe. London: Hutchison, pp. 23–96.Google Scholar
Baogang, He. 1993. Liberal Ideas of Democracy in Contemporary China: A Constructive Critique of its Moral and Intellectual Foundation. PhD. diss., Australian National University.Google Scholar
Xin, He. 1990. “Wode kunhuo yu youlū” (My perplexities and concerns). Xuexi Yuekan 12:34–38, cited in He Xin, “A Word of Advice to the Politburo,” trans, and ann. by Geremie Barmé, Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs 23 (January 1990):49-76.Google Scholar
Agnes, Heller, and FehÉR, Ferenc. 1988. The Postmodern Political Condition. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Stephen, Holmes. 1989. “The Permanent Structure of Anti-liberal Thought.” In Rosenblum, Nancy L., ed., Liberalism and the Moral Life. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, pp. 227–53, 284-91.Google Scholar
Ping, Hu. 1992. “Ping Xin Baoshouzhuyi” (Critique of new conservatism). Zhongguo Zhi Chun 110 (July 1992):58–60.Google Scholar
Shiping, Hua. 1992. “All Roads Lead To Democracy: A Critical Analysis of the Writings of Three Chinese Reformist Intellectuals.” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (January-March):43–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuel, Huntington. 1968. Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Samuel, Huntington. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs (Summer 1993) 72.3:22–49.Google Scholar
Jenner, W. J. F. 1992. The Tyranny of History—The Roots of China's Crisis. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Jones, Andrew F. 1992. Like a Knife: Ideology and Genre in Contemporary Chinese Popular Music. Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Series.Google Scholar
Nicholas, Jose. 1991. “Chinese Writer, Sang Ye.” Voices: The Quarterly Journal of the National Library of Australia 1.3 (Spring):5–12.Google Scholar
David, Kelly. 1990. “The Intellectuals in the Chinese Democracy Movement, 1989.” In Hicks, George, ed., The Broken Mirror: China After Tiananmen. London: Longmans, pp. 24–51.Google Scholar
David, Kelly. 1991a. “Chinese Marxism since Tiananmen: Between Evaporation and Dismemberment.” In Goodman, David and Segal, George, eds., China in the Nineties: Crisis Management and Beyond. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 19–34.Google Scholar
David, Kelly. 1991b. “The Post-totalitarian Mind in China: Fang Lizhi as Dissident.” In Williams, James, ed., Farewell to An Era: Writings of Fang Lizhi. New York, Knopf, pp. 189–99.Google Scholar
David, Kelly, and Xin, Gu. 1994. “New Conservatism: Ideological Program of a ‘New Elite.’” In Goodman, David S. G. and Hooper, Beverly, eds., China's Quiet Revolution: New Interactions between State and Society. New York, St. Martin's Press.Google Scholar
David, Kelly, and Baogang, He. 1991. “Emergent Civil Society and the Intellectuals in China.” In Miller, Robert F., ed., The Development of Civil Society in Communist Systems. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 24–39.Google Scholar
Michael, Kennedy. 1992. “The Intelligentsia in the Constitution of Civil Societies and Post-Communist Regimes in Hungary and Poland.” Theory and Society 21.1 (February):29–76.Google Scholar
Leszek, Kolakowski. 1990. Modernity On Endless Trial. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
GyŌRgy, KonrĀD, and SzelÉNyi, IvĀN. 1979. The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich.Google Scholar
MilĀN, Kundera. 1984. “A Kidnapped West or Culture Bows Out.” Granta 11:93–122.Google Scholar
Lam, Willy Wo-Lap. 1992a. “Chen's Son Bids to Expand Power Base.” South China Morning Post, May 19.Google Scholar
Lam, Willy Wo-Lap. 1992b. “China's ‘Gang of Princelings’ Miss Out on Top Posts.” South China Morning Post, July 3.Google Scholar
Lam, Willy Wo-Lap. 1992c. “Think-Tank Challenge on Reform.” South China Morning Post, June 11.Google Scholar
David, Levy. 1987. Political Order: Philosophical Anthropology, Modernity, and the Challenge of Ideology. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Lilun, Bu. 1991. “Sulian zhengbian zhi hou Zhongguode xianshi yingdui yu zhanlūe xuanze” (Realistic responses and strategic choices for China after the Soviet coup). Zhongguo Zhi Chun 1 (January):35–39.Google Scholar
Perry, Link. Evening Chats in Beijing: Probing China's Predicament. New York: W. W. Norton and Company.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1990. “The Death of the Third Way.” The National Interest 20 (Summer):2–38.Google Scholar
Binyan, Liu. 1992. A Higher Kind of Loyalty: A Memoir by China's Foremost Journalist. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Merquior, J. G. 1992. “Thoughts on Liberalization.” In Hall, John A. and Jarvie, I. C., eds., Transition to Modernity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 317–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metzger, Thomas A. 1991. “The Chinese Reconciliation of Moral-Sacred Values with Modern Pluralism: Political Discourse in the ROC, 1949-1989.” In Metzger, Thomas A. and Myers, Ramon, eds., Two Societies in Opposition: The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China After Forty Years. Washington: Hoover Institution Press, pp. 3–56.Google Scholar
Metzger, Thomas A., and Myers, Ramon H.. 1991. “Two Diverging Societies.” In Metzger, Thomas A. and Myers, Ramon, eds., Two Societies in Opposition: The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China After Forty Years. Washington: Hoover Institution Press, pp. xiii–xlv.Google Scholar
Nathan, Andrew J. 1986. “Political Rights in Chinese Constitutions” and “Sources of Chinese Rights Thinking.” In Edwards, R. Randle, Henkin, Louis, and Nathan, Andrew, eds., Human Rights in Contemporary China. New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 77–124 and pp. 125-64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guillermo, O'Donnell, and Schmitter, Philippe C.. 1986. Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Prospects for Democracy. Part IV: Tentative Conclusions about Uncertain Democracies. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Zhen, Peng. 1989. Lun xin shiqi de shehuizhuyi minzhu yu fazhi jianshe (On the Construction of Socialist Democracy and Law in the New Era). Beijing: Central Documents Publishers.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J. 1991. “Intellectuals and Tiananmen: Historical Reflections on an Aborted Revolution.” In Chirot, Daniel, ed., The Crisis of Leninism and the Decline of the Left. Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 129–46.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J. 1992. “Introduction: Chinese Political Culture Revisited.” In Wasserstrom, J. N. and Perry, E. J., eds., Popular Protest and Political Culture in Modern China: Learning from 1989. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 1–27.Google Scholar
Polan, A. J. 1984. Lenin and the End of Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Karl, Polanyi. 1944. The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Pitman, Potter. 1986. “Peng Zhen: Evolving Views on Party Organization and Law.” In Hamrin, Carol Lee and Cheek, Timothy, eds., China's Establishment Intellectuals. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 21–50.Google Scholar
Barry, Sautman. 1992. “Sirens of the Strongman: Neo-Authoritarianism in Recent Chinese Political Theory.” China Quarterly 129 (March):72–102.Google Scholar
Michael, Schoenhals. 1991. “The 1978 Truth Criterion Controversy.” China Quarterly 126 (June):243–68.Google Scholar
Xiaokang, Su and Luxiang, Wang. 1991. Deathsong of the River: A Reader's Guide to the Chinese TV Series Heshang. Bodman, Richard W. and Wan, Pin P., trans. Ithaca: Cornell East Asia Series.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Michael J. 1994. “The 1988-89 Nanjing Anti-African Protests: Racial Nationalism or National Racism?” China Quarterly 138:438–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
IvĀN, SzelÉNyi. 1986. “The Prospects and Limits of the East European New Class Project: An Auto-critical Reflection on ‘The Intellectuals on the Road to Class Power.’” Politics and Society 15.2:103–44.Google Scholar
Tenbruck, Friedrich H. 1989. “The Cultural Foundations of Society.” In Haferkamp, Hans, ed., Social Structure and Culture. Berlin: de Gruyter, pp. 15–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tang, Tsou. 1983. “Back from the Brink of Revolutionary-‘Feudal’ Totalitarianism.” In Nee, Victor and Mozingo, David, eds., State and Society in Contemporary China. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 53–88.Google Scholar
Zhaojun, Wang. 1992a. “Xiangcun beijing yu Zhongguo dangdai sichao” (The rural background and contemporary Chinese intellectual trends). Zhongguo Luntan (Taibei) 32.8 (May 1992):34–43.Google Scholar
Zhaojun, Wang. 1992b. “Xinbaoshouzhuyi yu dalu zhishifenzi” (New conservatism and the intellectuals in mainland China). Zhongguo Luntan (Taibei) 32.10 (July 1992): 106–14.Google Scholar
Jeffrey, Wasserstrom. 1991. Student Protests in Twentieth Century China: The View from Shanghai. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gongqin, Xiao. 1992. “Dalu xinbaoshouzhuyide jueqi-zhuanfang dalu ‘dier sichao’ lilunjia Xiao Gongqin” (Emergence of new conservatism on the mainland: interview with theorist of the mainland ‘second intellectual wave’ Xiao Gongqin). Shibao zhoukan (China Times Weekly) January 26:66–67 and February 2:98–100.Google Scholar