Introduction

Today's China-watchers face no shortage of issues or policy areas to study. Experts look at China's economy, foreign and defense policies, human rights record, business practices, corruption levels, environmental policies, even demographics. But for all the important work being done on China today, we believe too little attention has been paid to understanding contemporary Chinese civic culture. Yet it is precisely China's underlying civic culture which will, as much as anything, help inform how particular policy issues are addressed by the Chinese, and more broadly, how China is likely to develop in the future. Perhaps the greatest student of civic culture is Alexis de Tocqueville, whose studies of American democracy and pre-revolutionary France still represent the gold standard in terms of elucidating the fundamental civic spirit--the moeurs--of both regimes. In the tradition of Tocqueville's studies and methodology, AEI's "Tocqueville on China" project convenes a select group of scholars, policy analysts, and government experts to generate innovative studies that elicit the underlying civic culture of post-Mao China, enabling policymakers to better understand the internal forces and pressures that are shaping China’s future.

Project Overview

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Scholars and Fellows

AEI resident scholar Gary J. Schmitt and resident fellow Dan Blumenthal hosted the initial "Tocqueville on China" session on December 15, 2006, at AEI, which convened both Tocqueville scholars and Sinologists to discuss the aforementioned ideas and assess how the project might proceed. The second meeting, which addressed the role that religion plays in Chinese civil society, was held on May 10, 2007. A third session, focusing on the role of NGOs in China, was convened on October 5, 2007. The most recent workshop, held on February 8, 2008, explored the complex issue of Chinese nationalism. A series of academic papers have been commissioned as part of the project. These papers, along with other materials related to each of the sessions, will be posted online as they become available.

Dan Blumenthal Resident Fellow

Gary J. Schmitt Resident Scholar Director of Program on Advanced Strategic Studies