political theory, published by Lexington Press, and the Ethikon Series in
Comparative Ethics, published by Princeton University Press and Cambridge
University Press.
Just as ‘‘the’’ Western political tradition is complex and composed of plural,
occasionally inconsistent strands, so ‘‘the’’ East Asian political tradition is rich
and varied, and many aspects of East Asian political theory have enriched, or
have the potential to enrich, contemporary debates in Anglo-American polit-
ical theory. For example, the thoughts of ancient Legalist thinkers such as Han
Fei Zi anticipated Machiavellian realpolitik and the ‘‘originality’’ of Machiavelli
might not be so apparent seen in this comparative light (Moody 1979 ). Daoist
antipathy to authoritarian controls can be compared to anarchist proposals for
social order without coercion (Hall 1978 ). The Buddhist practices designed to
dissolve the self can provide inspiration for Western liberals concerned with the
question of how to motivate impartial justice; and the Buddhist ideal of
compassion for all forms of life can bring insights to the moral and political
theories of animal rights advocates (Revel and Ricard 1997 ).
The most inXuential East Asian political tradition is Confucianism (just as
liberalism is the main plank of Western political theorizing), and this tradition in
particular has been subject to increased scrutiny in contemporary Anglo-Ameri-
can debates. Several recent books have compared Confucian political ideas with
Western ideas of human rights, democracy, capitalism, the rule of law, and just
war (e.g. de Bary and Tu 1998 ; Hall and Ames 1999 ;Bell 2000 ; Chan and Liang
2002 ;Angle 2002 ; Peerenboom 2002 ; Bell and Hahm 2003 ;Ni 2003 ). In this
chapter, I will try to show that two recent developments in contemporary Anglo-
American political theory have allowed for substantial engagement with Con-
fucian political theory and may set the stage for further interest in East Asian
political theory more generally. One is the communitarian critique of liberal
universalism and the other is the feminist emphasis on the politics of the family.
2 East Asian Contributions to the
Debate on Universalism vs.
Particularism
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
In the 1980 s, communitarian critics of liberalism sought to deXate the
universal pretensions of liberal theory (e.g. Walzer 1983 ), but they were less
264 daniel a. bell