Responding to the "Asian values" debate over the compatibility of Confucianism and liberal democracy, Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan, by Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper, offers a rigorous, systematic investigation of the contributions of Confucian thought to democratization and the protection of women, indigenous peoples, and press freedom in Taiwan. Relying upon a unique combination of empirical analysis of public opinion surveys, legislative debates, public school textbooks, and interviews with leading Taiwanese political actors, this essential study documents the changing role of Confucianism in Taiwan's recent political history. While the ideology largely bolstered authoritarian rule in the past and played little role in Taiwan's democratization, the belief system is now in the process of transforming itself in a pro-democratic direction. In contrast to those who argue that Confucianism is inherently authoritarian, the authors contend that Confucianism is capable of multiple interpretations, including ones that legitimate democratic forms of government. At both the mass and the elite levels, Confucianism remains a powerful ideology in Taiwan despite or even because of the island's democratization. Borrowing from Max Weber's sociology of religion, the writers provide a distinctive theoretical argument for how an ideology like Confucianism can simultaneously accommodate itself to modernity and remain faithful to its core teachings as it decouples itself from the state. In doing so, Fetzer and Soper argue, Confucianism is behaving much like Catholicism, which moved from a position of ambivalence or even opposition to democracy to one of full support. The results of this study have profound implications for other Asian countries such as China and Singapore, which are also Confucian but have not yet made a full transition to democracy.

Religious Leaders and Faith-Based Politics: Ten Profiles offers a powerful and timely analysis of the dynamic relationship between religious leaders of all faiths and political activism in the United States. By examining the lives and works of such prominent leaders as Reverend Floyd Flake, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Reverend Al Sharpton, Elder Dallin H. Oakes, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Reverend Benjamin Chavis-Muhammed, and Sister Maureen Fiedler, this volume reveals an American tradition of religious influence on public policy that continues to be an important hallmark of our democracy. From the colonial era to the present, religious leaders have raised AmericansO moral and political awareness of countless issues, including revolution, slavery, temperance, civil rights, and, most recently, the culture wars. This book is the first to explore the renewed and intense commitment of evangelicals, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews to preach, teach, and participate in politics today. Among the questions answered in this book: are religious leaders today as active and vocal as the radicals of the turbulent 1960s? Are these activists still involved in civil rights or have other contentious topics such as abortion and traditional family values preempted such issues? In the wake of the 2000 election and at the start of a new administration committed to elevating the role of religion in politics, Jo Renee Formicola, Hubert Morken, and this prominent collection of contributors ask might we expect greater American religious involvement in the years ahead? This is essential reading for anyone interested in religious and political activism, or the evolving relationship between church and state in America.

Responding to the "Asian values" debate over the compatibility of Confucianism and liberal democracy, Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan, by Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper, offers a rigorous, systematic investigation of the contributions of Confucian thought to democratization and the protection of women, indigenous peoples, and press freedom in Taiwan. Relying upon a unique combination of empirical analysis of public opinion surveys, legislative debates, public school textbooks, and interviews with leading Taiwanese political actors, this essential study documents the changing role of Confucianism in Taiwan's recent political history. While the ideology largely bolstered authoritarian rule in the past and played little role in Taiwan's democratization, the belief system is now in the process of transforming itself in a pro-democratic direction. In contrast to those who argue that Confucianism is inherently authoritarian, the authors contend that Confucianism is capable of multiple interpretations, including ones that legitimate democratic forms of government. At both the mass and the elite levels, Confucianism remains a powerful ideology in Taiwan despite or even because of the island's democratization. Borrowing from Max Weber's sociology of religion, the writers provide a distinctive theoretical argument for how an ideology like Confucianism can simultaneously accommodate itself to modernity and remain faithful to its core teachings as it decouples itself from the state. In doing so, Fetzer and Soper argue, Confucianism is behaving much like Catholicism, which moved from a position of ambivalence or even opposition to democracy to one of full support. The results of this study have profound implications for other Asian countries such as China and Singapore, which are also Confucian but have not yet made a full transition to democracy.