Towards Responsible Government in East Asia: Trajectories, Intentions and Meanings

by Li; Linda Chelan

• ISBN13: 9780415453165
• ISBN10: 041545316X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-27
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book explores the idea of responsible government in East Asia, arguing that many recent governance crises have resulted from responsibility failures on a huge scale. It distinguishes between accountability, which it argues has been overemphasised recently, and responsibility, which it argues goes beyond accountability, true responsible government involving the actor in feeling liable for and taking responsibility for his or her actions. It shows how historically the concept of responsibility is more embedded in political discussions in Asia, whereas the concepts of democracy and accountability are more embedded in the intellectual traditions of Europe, but that the challenges of revolution and post-revolution, decolonization and post-colonization and neo-liberal globalization have complicated matters. Drawing on a wide range of case studies from East Asia, and relating the concepts discussed to political theory, ethics and social psychology, the book shows how actors in government and society interactto deliberate, produce or distract from the practice and perception of 'œresponsible government', and suggests how the concept of 'œresponsible government', better defined, might be encouraged to produce better governance.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. Toward and away from responsible government: actors, processes, and rhetoric Linda Chelan Li Analytical and normative constructs 2. Whose responsibility? The paradox of moral luck and the role of moral character in good governance Ho-mun Chan 3. A non-authoritarian alternative to democracy Daniel Bell Actors, Processes and rhetoric 4. Objective responsibility vs. subjective responsibility: A critical reading of the Internal Supervision Regulations of the Communist Party of China Ting Gong 5. Public housing governance and ethopolitics in Hong Kong: Constructing identities of active consumption and responsible community James Lee 6. A not so harmonious society: Beijing's emerging social contract dilemma Chengxin Pan 7. Failing to treat: why public hospitals in China do not work? Waikeung Tam 8. Institutionalizing responsible government in Taiwan: The role of US aid Tak-wing Ngo 9. Towards Responsible Bureaucracy in the Transition Polity: the Cases of China and Vietnam Martin Painter Conclusion 10. Concluding Chapter