Cultural obstacles to political dialogue in China

Chu, Y. and Ruthrof, H. (2012) Cultural obstacles to political dialogue in China. Culture and Dialogue, 2 (2).

Abstract

If it is clear that naive pacifism can in the long run pave the way for more destruction and misery, the question of whether installing the ethos of dialogue by force could be justified in communities that do not have such a tradition is far from being straightforward. In other words, interventionism may not always be the best means for the good cause. And as far as political dialogue is concerned, the reasons may be historical, cultural, or even civilizational. What Yingchi Chu and Horst Ruthrof show in their essay is that "obstacles to the emergence of political dialogue in China" are not only due to the practice of the political regime of the time; they also and more profoundly find their origin in the cultural tradition of Confucianism and its belief in some form of obedience and normativity. Moreover, this rich essay raises the complex issue of the cultural justification of political practices that are un-dialogical.

Publication Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation:	School of Arts
Publisher:	Airiti Press
Publishers Website:	https://sites.google.com/a/culture-dialogue.net/cu...
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/12774

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