Centuries ago, Confucian was a dominant ideology that once swept through ancient China and even East Asia at large. Anything but creaky, the school of thought still stands today. With expertise in political theory, Professor KIM Sungmoon, Associate Dean (Postgraduate Studies) of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Professor of Department of Public and International Affairs, seeks to unfold its close ties to the political ecosystem nowadays.

In Prof Kim’s latest book, he puts forward a robust normative theory of Confucian democratic constitutionalism. This book spells out the reinvention of the old Chinese ideal, adapting to the contemporary context marked by value pluralism and moral disagreement. From the China model to the systems of strong-form judicial review, he constructs an alternative constitutional vision to demonstrate its nuances and implications. It fills the gaps between the traditional and modern Confucian discourses of constitutionalism and the contemporary theory of Confucian constitutionalism. 

Besides the publication, Prof Kim is poised to share the wisdom in the public lecture at Harvard University’s Emond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics on 11 April 2023. His talk “Confucian Democratic Constitutionalism: Between Legal and Political” is co-sponsored by Harvard-Yenching Institute. He centres around the theory of Confucian democratic constitutionalism and its neither liberal-legal nor purely political elements.

Confucian Constitutionalism: Dignity, Rights, and Democracy

By Kim Sungmoon
Professor
Department of Public and International Affairs
City University of Hong Kong

ISBN: 9780197630617 (Print)
Published by Oxford University Press