Kwon Kyung Rok - Confucian Sentimental Representation: A New Approach to Confucian Democracy

Kwon conceptualizes a unique mode of political representation in East Asian society, which derives its moral foundation from Confucian virtue politics.

Contemporary East Asian societies understand democracy differently than Western societies do. Even citizens in consolidated democracies such as Taiwan and South Korea have different conceptions of an ideal relationship between a political leader and ordinary citizens, as well as a political leaders accountability and political legitimacy. A political leaders proper conduct, including his/her everyday languages, behaviors, and expressions when facing citizens sorrow, anger, and resentment, plays a crucial role in evaluating whether his/her has political legitimacy in East Asian society. Kwon analyses how this affective accountability forms the basis for political representation in these societies and examines how this can be reconciled with liberal democracy.

A vital contribution not only to Confucian political theory, but also to political theory writ large that will be of especial value to political scientists with an interest in East Asian democracy.

Kyung Rok Kwon is a postdoctoral fellow of Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Academia Sinica (Taiwan). He received his Ph.D. in Department of Public Policy from City University of Hong Kong. His main research interests include comparative political theory (East and West), Confucian political theory, and democratic theory.

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For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Innovations-in-Political-Theory/bookseries/IPT

First published 2022

by Routledge

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2022 Kyung Rok Kwon

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ISBN: 978-0-367-67747-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-67748-0 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-003-13266-0 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003132660

This book is based on my doctoral dissertation. In writing this book, I have incurred numerous debts. First of all, I greatly thank Sungmoon Kim, who was my supervisor and academic mentor. Without numerous discussions with him about critical issues in political theory, his constructive feedbacks, and warm encouragement, I would not have been able to finish this book. I am grateful to Philip J. Ivanhoe and Eirik Lang Harris for extensive written and verbal comments on the earliest version of this book. I am also thankful to my dissertation board members, Joseph Chan, Ruiping Fan, and William Smith. They provided me with critical and insightful comments, constructive suggestions, and friendly encouragement. The core idea of this book was presented at First Oxford symposium on comparative political philosophy held on July 1012, 2019 at the University of Oxford. In the symposium, Baldwin Wong, Elton Chan, Larry Lai, Wenqing Zhao, Ranjoo Herr, Franz Mang, Stephen Angle, and Roy Tseng offered me valuable comments and suggestions on my formulation of Confucian sentimental representation. I thank all of them. Two research centersCenter for East Asian and Comparative Philosophy at City University of Hong Kong and Research Center for Humanities and Social Science at Academia Sinica (Taiwan)provided me with a lot of support for my research. I also thank them for their support. I would like to thank Simon Bates, my editor at Routledge, for accepting this project and the three anonymous reviewers for their critical suggestions. My journal article Toward Confucian democratic meritocracy in Philosophy & Social Criticism 46:9 (Nov.): 10531075 is incorporated into this book. I also thank SAGE journals for permission to reprint parts of the article in this book.

Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude toward my family. Since I started my studies, my parents and parents-in-law have given me a lot of support. Without their love and sacrifice, I would not have been able to finish my book. I would also like to thank my two lovely daughters, Minsung and Gahyun, who are a great source of our familys happiness, and my wife, Eunhae, who has had faith in me and supported my studies for a long time. Without her sincere concern, patience, and love, I would not have been able to arrive at this moment. I dedicate this book to her.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003132660-1