How Can China Get Out of Cycle of Dynasties? A Tocquevillian Perspective

Abstract

"China has been gotten stuck in the cycle of dynasties for more than 2000 years. The Open and Reform Policy has helped the country achieve remarkable economic success in the past forty years, but it has made little progress in terms of political development. The people are rejected to participate in public affairs in any meaningful way, and their fundamental rights are frequently abridged and violated. To simply put it, they are not allowed to govern themselves. How can China get out of the cycle of dynasties? What challenges the country needs to overcome in order to become a self-governing society? One of the striking characteristics of the Chinese regime has been administrative centralization. Chinese people and many China observers have been convinced that the centralization is indispensable for the unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and greatness of the country. They even believe that administrative centralization can coexist with a self-governing society. Why do they hold these beliefs? How can they be changed? Drawing upon the works of American Founding Fathers, Tocqueville, and Vincent and Elinor Ostrom, this paper is an effort to explore these issues. I propose that, without the change of the centralized structure of the Chinese regime, it’s unlikely for the country to establish a free and self-governing society. However, unless the mores, or 'habits of heart and mind', change in the society, it is very hard to do away with the centralized institutions."