Last night I attended a launch event on campus at the University of Hong Kong for Professor Joseph Chan’s Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times, which was recently published by Princeton University Press. Joseph is my friend, colleague and office neighbour – none of which in any way informs my judgment that his book is a very important contribution to contemporary political theory. I write here about both the event and the book.

At the event, Joseph prefaced his presentation with the story of how he came to embark on his project. Some 30 years ago when he was finishing up undergraduate studies at Chinese University of Hong Kong, he asked some of his teachers whether he should pursue a career in political theory. Almost all of them advised against, noting that the subject is difficult, jobs are scarce, and so on. They suggested Chinese politics or public administration as better options. Only one teacher, Professor Kuan Hsin-chi, was supportive of the idea. Arguing that China had no practicable political philosophy to guide its development, he urged Joseph to go ahead. I trust that at least some smart young Myanmar students will be given equally sound advice in the years to come.

In his book, Joseph attempts to integrate the best of China’s Confucian tradition with the best of western political thought, notably the commitment to liberal democracy that is one of its key strands. He traces his motivation to the fact that he grew up in Hong Kong, a hybrid society where East meets West. Myanmar shares some of this composite nature, having also been marked by British imperialism. Equally, though, the same conclusion can be reached by another route, which is to note the overwhelming power of western modernity that confronts societies all over the world. Either way, then, an amalgam of indigenous and western ideas and ideals seems to be a necessary way forward for most countries in the global South.

Joseph’s central question is this: Can we develop a viable political philosophy that is able to deal with contemporary political problems yet retain the essence of Confucian thought? His study is therefore an exercise in non-ideal theory, which he argues has been standard practice in the tradition since at least the time of Confucius himself 2500 years ago. He makes a case for adopting liberal democratic institutions that are shaped by the Confucian conception of the good rather than the liberal conception of the right, holding that this can strengthen them both.

Currently, the person best placed to perform for Myanmar a synthesis of traditional Buddhist values and contemporary liberal democratic principles is Matt Walton at Oxford. In the longer term, though, academic institutions inside the country and overseas, fully supported by committed donors, need to find ways to encourage local scholars to take on the project of building a public philosophy for Myanmar.