This book revisits the discourse theories of Habermas and Foucault in a Chinese context. After arguing that Habermas’s Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy is too normative and idealistic, it presents Foucault’s Discourse Theory of Power Relations to illustrate the tensions between different Western discourse theories. The book then draws on the normative concept of Confucian Rationality from traditional Chinese cultural sources in order to investigate how adaptable these two discourse theories are to the Chinese society, and to balance the tension between them. Presenting these three dimensions of discourse theory, as well as the relations between them, it also uses empirical descriptions of certain facts of political-legal discussion both in traditional China and in the country’s new media age to explain, supplement and question this theoretic framework. The book asserts that, because of the diverse modes of thinking in specific cultures, there might be different normative paradigms of discorse and different political-legal discussion modes across corresponding cultural contexts. Normative discourse theories provide guidance for the practices of deliberative democracy and legal discussions, which can in turn verify, supplement, improve and challenge the normative discourse theories. In addition to demonstrating the multiple dimensions of discourse theories, this research also promotes an approach to the Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy that combines elements of both Chinese and modern society.

Woo investigates examples of the Chinese government using methods normally associated with deliberative democracy to involve their citizenry in decision-making at a sub-national level. Despite the tightening of civil society under Xi there are still some opportunities for the Chinese people to articulate their opinions and participate in decision making. The proliferation of deliberative democratic practices is motivated by the CCP’s strong governance logic, to strengthen regime legitimacy and stability. Woo examines deliberative participation through the lens of participatory budgeting in China, and investigates its impact on local governance. To make sense of this model of deliberative democratic governance in China, she unpacks the relationship between deliberative democracy and governance. This requires delving into the forms and functions of deliberation with Chinese characteristics, especially to show how they depart from the Western deliberative democratic experiences. What is the Chinese deliberative discourse in relation to the Western conception of deliberative democracy? How can the Chinese deliberative experience contribute to the concept of deliberative governance? How does deliberation impact upon local governance in China? An intriguing read both for scholars of Chinese politics and for political scientists looking at comparative examples of deliberative governance.

Fifty years ago, the two leading German philosophers and sociologists since the Second World War, Jürgen Habermas and Niklas Luhmann, embarked on a sweeping and contentious debate that would continue for decades. Their coauthored 1971 book Theory of Society or Social Technology laid out their opposing positions on meaning, communication, consensus, and dissent—and ultimately the foundations of modern social thought. Habermas and Luhmann would elaborate their disagreement in the years to come in a controversy whose aftershocks divided social theorists by presenting what appeared to be two fundamentally divergent views of the nature of society and what systems theory was capable of explaining. This is the first book in English about one of the most important conflicts in social theory today. Gorm Harste analyzes the Habermas-Luhmann debate from its inception through Habermas’s most recent works, exploring issues such as methodology, ideology, truth, history, and politics. He contextualizes their positions in terms of how each grappled with the legacy of Nazism and sought to provide grounding for an antitotalitarian politics. Harste follows the evolution of the debate, as the fundamental dispute over the normative and practical desirability of agreement and disagreement came to touch upon political questions including the rule of law, the separation of powers, human rights, individualization, and secularization. Ultimately, Harste emphasizes the convergence between Habermas and Luhmann—and the pressing need for social theorists to further unite these two formative accounts of contemporary society.

The United States and China are arguably the most globally consequential actors of the early twenty first century, and look set to remain so into the foreseeable future. This volume seeks to highlight that American images of China are responsible for constructing certain truths and realities about that country and its people. It also introduces the understanding that these images have always been inextricable from the enactment and justification of US China policies in Washington, and that those policies themselves are active in the production and reproduction of imagery and in the protection of American identity when seemingly threatened by that of China. Demonstrating how past American images of China are vital to understanding the nature and significance of those which circulate today, Turner addresses three key questions: What have been the dominant American images of China and the Chinese across the full lifespan of Sino-US relations? How have historical and contemporary American images of China and the Chinese enabled and justified US China policy? What role does US China policy play in the production and reproduction of American images of China? Exploring and evaluating a wide-ranging variety of sources including films and television programmes, newspaper and magazine articles, the records and journals of politicians and diplomats and governmental documents including speeches and legal declarations this work will be of great interest to students and scholars of US foreign policy, American politics, China studies and international relations.

Habermas and Law makes accessible the most important essays in English that deal with the application to law of the work of major philosophers for whom law was not a main concern. It encompasses not only what these philosophers had to say about law but also brings together essays which consider those aspects of the work of major philosophers which bear on our interpretation and assessment of current law and legal theory. The essays are based on scholarly study of particular philosophers and deal with both the nature and role of law and the application of philosophy to specific areas of law.

This book examines Foucault's political framework for connecting political authority with practices of freedom. It starts from the older Foucault's claim that where there is obedience there cannot be government by truth. Then it shows how this claim runs like a red thread through his entire life project.

Studying Chinese law from a linguistic and communicative perspective, this book examines meaning and language in Chinese law. It investigates key notions and concepts of law, the rule of law, and rights and their evolutionary meanings. It examines the linguistic usage and textual features in Chinese legal texts and legal translation, and probes the lawmaking process and the Constitution as speech act and communicative action. Taking a cross-cultural approach, the book applies major Western philosophical thought to Chinese law, in particular the ideas concerning language and communication by such major thinkers as Peirce, Whorf, Gadamer, Habermas, Austin and Searle. The focus of the study is contemporary People's Republic of China; however, the study also traces and links the inherited and introduced cultural and linguistic values and configurations that provide the context in which modern Chinese law operates.