Intelligent Governance for the 21st Century: A Middle Way between West and East

Fordecades,liberaldemocracyhasbeenextolledasthebestsystemofgovernancetohaveemergedoutofthelongexperienceofhistory.Today,suchaconfidentassertionisfarfromself-evident.Democracy,incrisisacrosstheWest,mustproveitself.IntheWesttoday,theauthorsargue,wenolongerlivein“industrialdemocracies,”but“consumerdemocracies”inwhichthegoverningethoshasendedupdrowninghouseholdsandgovernmentsindebtandresultedinparalyzingpartisanship.Incontrast,thelong-termfocusofthedecisiveandunifiedleadershipofChinaisboldlymovingitsnationintothefuture.ButChinaalsofaceschallengesarisingfromitsmeteoricrise.Itsburgeoningmiddleclasswillincreasinglydemandmoreparticipation,accountabilityofgovernment,curbingcorruptionandtheruleoflaw.Asthe21stCenturyunfolds,bothofthesecoresystemsoftheglobalordermustcontendwiththesamereality:agenuinelymulti-polarworldwherenosinglepowerdominatesandinwhichsocietiesthemselvesarebecomingincreasinglydiverse.Theauthorsarguethatanewsystemof“intelligentgovernance”isrequiredtomeetthesenewchallenges.Tocope,theauthorsarguethatbothEastandWestcanbenefitbyadaptingeachother’sbestpractices.Examiningthisinrelationtowidelyvaryingpoliticalandculturalcontexts,theauthorsquipthatwhileChinamustlightenup,theUSmusttightenup.Thishighlytimelyvolumeisbothaconceptualandpracticalguideofimpressivescopetothechallengesofgoodgovernanceastheworldcontinuestoundergoprofoundtransformationinthecomingdecades.