Pacific Affairs: An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

Volume 75, No. 1

 

Can Confucianism Survive in an Age of Universalism and Globalization?
By Gilbert Rozman

 

Abstract

The comparative study of East Asia sheds light on the changing impact of Confucian social practices in China, Japan, and Korea. Over centuries Confucianization largely promoted universalism, speeding premodern development. Yet, increasingly, this legacy could be seen in entrenched particularistic influences that stood in the way of reform and blocked modernization when it arrived from abroad. By distinguishing several types of Confucianism, we can observe how some aspects of the tradition survived decades of de-Confucianization to shape a new era of accelerated modernization and the rise of countries in the region in the 1980s-1990s. In an era of globalization further de-Confucianization is needed since traditions are again largely a defence of narrow interests. As the most Confucian society, Korea has a special role in elevating Confucianism into a force with regionalism with China and Japan. If social integration on a global scale takes precedence, there is room for a synthesis of distinctive social practices and a regional identity. Korean debates on the role of Confucianism suggest that there is hope for survival even as nationalists try to use the tradition to oppose the new regionalism and to limit openness to global social practices. Another wave of de-Confucianization is needed as the region regroups, shifts models, and, after overcoming nationalism and vested interests, coalesces as a force in regionalism.