this post was submitted on 28 Aug 2024
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you aren't going to convince your prof.
the term democracy is defined in many different ways by many different people. it's an argument of semantics.
if your prof is a political scientist they are likely to be using/familiar with Polity, VDem, Freedom House, and the Democracy-Dictatorship Index. The important thing to note is that each of these essentially defines democracy as a government in which there are competitive multiparty elections. Anyone who defines democracy as requiring that will find it lacking in China and will never be convinced.
I would suggest stating that outright before explaining the ways in which the demos have say in government and control over government actions and ONLY if it is in line with your assignment.
China is not a democracy by any common definition used in western academia. Acknowledge this, and instead use it as an example of how the mainstream definitions of democracy are limited.
How do I use it as an example I don't understand that part
you can explain how having the public (specifically the demos using the greek idea of democracy) have input in government policy within the Chinese system. i only know about cuba's system tho which is, in my opinion, the most democratic one there is.
do the public in China have the ability to recall their delegates?
do their delegates in the national assembly bring drafts of bills to them for community input at public meetings?
do they have referendums for major changes to laws and the constitution?
what portion of the delegates in the highest levels are people who aren't career politicians?
etc. etc.
these are all things Cuba has but I don't know if China has them. China might not be a democracy by any reasonable definition and even if you support its ruling party you should be open to that possibility while researching.
a major thing you might come across is that Chinese citizens will say that democracy means a government that does what the people want. it's outcomes based. in the west we often focus entirely on process for defining democracy. but some are very restricted and insist that a democracy is a government made up of regular people, who are chosen by regular people, and who act for regular people (of, by, and for the people). it seems that in liberal circles they care more about the "by" and in China they care about the "for" and in ancient greece they cared about the "of".