Must we choose our leaders? human rights and political participation in China

Journal of Global Ethics 1 (2):177-196 (2005)
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Abstract

The essay begins from Alan Gewirth's influential account of human rights, and specifically with his argument that the human right to political participation can only be fulfilled by competitive, liberal democracy. I show that his argument rests on empirical, rather than conceptual grounds, which opens the possibility that in China, alternative forms of participation may be legitimate or even superior. An examination of the theory and contemporary practice of ‘democratic centralism’ shows that while it does not now adequately support the right to political participation, a reformed version could. I focus in particular on the roles that could be played by consultative institutions, looking both to recent Chinese proposals and to analogues currently existing in Japan. I conclude that a reformed democratic centralism may well be the objective toward which Chinese people should strive.

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Citations of this work

Political Confucianism and the Politics of Confucian Studies.Eske J. Møllgaard - 2015 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 14 (3):391-402.
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References found in this work

Basic Rights.Henry Shue - 1983 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 173 (3):342-342.
Reason and Morality.Alan Gewirth - 1968 - Revue Philosophique de la France Et de l'Etranger 170 (4):444-445.
The Community of Rights.Alan Gewirth - 1997 - Philosophy 72 (282):609-612.
Images of Human Nature: A Sung Portrait.Donald J. Munro - 1988 - Princeton University Press.
Decent Democratic Centralism.Stephen C. Angle - 2005 - Political Theory 33 (4):518-546.

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