Anti-democratic lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic? Deweyan-Confucian reflections on democratic aspirations in East Asia

• Main Author: TAN, Sor-hoon
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2021
• Subjects: Democracy; Pragmatism; Confucianism; Freedom; Public Health
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3652; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4910/viewcontent/Anti_democratic_lessons_from_the_COVID_19.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The election of Donald trump, Brexit and the drift towards authoritarianism of several third wave democracies raise questions and doubts about democracy. Some may see the pandemic having a further dampening effect on democratic aspirations in East Asia, this article argues that the mixed lessons of the pandemic suggest that East Asia would benefit from more, not less, democracy. The democracy they need is not the form of de facto American liberal democracy, but democracy suited to the Confucian cultures of various East Asian societies, understood as Dewey’s idea of community.