ABSTRACT
Confucianism as a complex school of thought contains many different elements: Some seem to be incompatible with democracy; others may resonate with democratic values. Thus, it is difficult to ascertain whether Confucianism as a whole is or is not compatible with democracy. Many societies in East Asia, such as China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and Japan, have been influenced by Confucian culture. The conventional wisdom seems to suggest that Confucianism, or Confucian culture for that matter, is not compatible with democracy. Confucianism contains both democratic and undemocratic elements, popular support for democracy is lukewarm, and people's understanding of democracy is limited. In the cases of Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, there were some experiences in democratic rule at the national or local levels in the earlier periods. The two Communist regimes, Vietnam and North Korea, face many problems similar to China's in terms of pluralistic social order, quasi-pluralistic social order, cultural change, foreign influence, democratic experience, and so on.
