Confucian Justifications of Democracy: A Critique of Joseph Chan's Democratic Theory

This essay critically engages with Joseph Chan's democratic theory and examines whether his attempt to justify democracy in terms of Confucian values is successful. My discussion centers on Chan's understandings of democratic institutions and of political authority, on which his theory of democracy is dependent. I argue that his justification of democracy is rendered tenuous by (1) the tension between Confucianism and democracy and (2) his particular views of political authority and the Confucian common good.