Democracy in China?

Abstract

On what basis can the People's Republic of China remain a legitimate regime? Its current legitimacy rests on an increasingly distant Revolution. It cannot reasonably hope to sustain this by seamless practical success in government. Is there an oecumenical criterion for legitimate political power or is all legitimacy just de facto? Shorn of its cosmological validation, Confucianism cannot offer an alternative parochial basis for legitimacy. Both territoriality and law now require procedurally credible popular consent. This argument is practical and patriotic as well as normative. It is unlikely to convince the leadership of the ccp, but History might in the end prove it right.