Multiple Ways to Democracy in Contemporary China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chinese democracy is discussed here from the perspective of intercultural dialog and the need for a global conversation and cultural understandings to build a new democratic global political order. Democracy in China is a controversial issue. But democracy is today problematic and full of paradoxes and contradictions everywhere. We indeed face a paradoxical situation: Western liberal democracy can no longer be considered the unique and universal model of democracy, yet we cannot surrender to a relativistic perspective on democracy. In this article, I first deal with some presuppositions and questions that constitute the “common sense” about Chinese politics: Is Chinese political culture compatible with democracy? Does democracy exist in China? Is talking about democracy in China a Western imposition? Even more: Is democracy necessary? All these questions are intertwined and drive us to ask which democracy we are talking about. Second, we focus on some of the main debates on Chinese democracy: transition to democracy, gradualism, the New Left, deliberative theories and present visions of democracy linked to the new era, the Chinese Dream and the Chinese concept of “Tianxia” (all under heaven) for a new model of international relations.