Beyond the Western Paradigm: Confucian Public Administration

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Abstract

If there are different paradigms of public administration (PA), then there is not one global best PA, but what we refer to as “global” PA is actually Western PA. The other side of the coin, Non-Western PA (NWPA), is outlined in this chapter. NWPA’s strongest protagonist, Confucian Public Administration, is more closely examined, both historically and in contemporary context. The chapter focuses on Mainland China, but also reviews other Confucian systems, including Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam and the somewhat problematic case of Japan. The chapter shows that, although institutional Confucian public administration is less ubiquitous than Confucian values, it is ultimately substantive enough to support NWPA. The Chapter demonstrates how recognition of NWPA can contribute to the capacity to establish “good” public administration in various other regions of the globe.

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Notes

Acknowledgements

This chapter further develops two sections from Drechsler 2015, and thus, several passages have been adapted from there; a few others are based on my parts in Drechsler and Karo 2017. Funding for facilities used in this research was provided by the core infrastructure support IUT (19–13) of the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.

Interviews

Information regarding contemporary and traditional Confucianism in PA is also based on fieldwork, normally including interviews with senior civil servants as well as academics, in all putative Confucian countries except North Korea: Mainland China (Beijing, September–November 2013 and March 2015), Hong Kong and Macao (April 2016, no interviews), Japan (Tokyo, March–April 2015), Singapore (January–April 2017), South Korea (Seoul, September 2013), Taiwan (October 2012, November 2013, April 2015 and March and May 2017) and Vietnam (Hanoi February 2014, Saigon March 2015).

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© The Author(s) 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and GovernanceTallinn University of TechnologyTallinnEstonia

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