The Root Cause of the Failure of American COVID-19 Governance Based on the Criticism of Liberal Democracy From Error-Tolerant Democracy

Liberal democracy cannot help America govern COVID-19 effectively for liberalism’s misunderstanding of the concept of liberty.Error-tolerantism divides liberty into the right to liberty in innovative fields,the right to be wrong as an original right,and the right to be right in non-innovative ones as sub-rights;rights come from mutual empowerment among people.The major defects of liberal democracy from the perspective of error-tolerant democracy constructed on error-tolerantism are as follows:The essence of election is to transfer people’s right to be wrong and corresponding right to be right to politicians,but the separation and balance of powers does not evaluate whether presidents,states,mayors,et al.,have exercised the power to be wrong reasonably,so that they could even abuse it in the COVID-19 governance,and did great harm to people’s human rights without any accountability or impeachment.Democratic governor’power to be wrong authorized by election was deprived by President Trump through issuing false information in the COVID-19 governance and encouraging people to protest against the anti-pandemic laws,which made liberal democracy in the United States threatened and COVID-19 out of control.

A Prerequisite for the Successful Governance of COVID-19 in the United States:Expansion of Liberal Democracy From Politics to Economy

The failure of COVID-19 governance in the United States of America is closely related to its economic inequality.According to the theory of error-tolerant democracy,after reflecting on the American financial crisis of 2008,liberty should be redefined from mutual empowerment under the background of regulation,which means that rights to liberty of entrepreneurs and financial capitalists in the public economy are empowered by the people,so they should empower and benefit the people,corresponding to regulation and redistribution respectively.During the COVID-19 pandemic,empowering and benefiting the people regarded as economic democracy has not been realized for neoliberal policies,leading to insufficient public funds to help citizens badly hurt by the disease.To restore the U.S.as the beacon of democracy,it should undertake the historical mission:expansion of liberal democracy from politics to economy so as to reduce unreasonable economic inequality and protect rights to life of more infected Americans.

The Construction of Mistake-tolerant Democracy Based on the Practical Right ＂Right to Trial and Error＂

The law ＂Trial and Error Ordinance＂ enacted in 2006 and spreading throughout China especially since 2016 is the best starting point for China＇s democratization, because Chinese government officials cannot be confronted with their new challenges directly without the right to trial and error. This study has tried to build a new democratic theory, mistake-tolerant democracy based on the right to trial and error with Chinese characteristics and Western value to guide Chinese democratized way. The right theory of mistake-tolerant democracy is the new right paradigm, ＂the right to trial and error as an original right and mutual empowerment theory＂ proposed by the combination of the state of nature and the scientific method of trial and error rather than natural right theory and social contract theory. Mistake-tolerant democracy emphasizes that the people have the equal right to trial and error as an original right, and the officials＇ right to trial and error are granted ＂from the people and should empower the corresponding rights to them, which is the meaning of mutual empowerment theory.

Shepherding Public Discourse Practices： Homiletic Form Aligned to the Logic Operative in Racial Rhetoric and Public Theological Discourse for Secular Liberal Democracies

Given that preaching is the primary mode of public theological discourse for most Christian ministers, an intellectual virtue of verbal restraint is required when practicing public theology and it is wise to address the ways that homilies can shepherd public discourse practices. A theology of rhetoric includes the homilist＇s moral purpose. Homilies either enhance public discourse or pervert it. This essay sketches a pattern of sermon movement that respects the logic operative in public theology, given the social context of America. Homilies can help cultivate the pastoral care of public rhetoric by modeling discourse that nurtures the politics of accountability. While many call for a public ethos where divergent moral voices engage each other in highly contested arenas, a precondition to practicing effective public theology requires that one exercises discourse in a way that respects the social limits on the free exercise of religion. It is important that a public theology of rhetoric clarifies the original social agreement for acceptable religious discourse in the public arena. Homiletics, as a dimension of practical theology, can teach preachers methods of pastoral care for public discourse. The social agreement in liberal democracies to contain the combative nature of religious discourse assumes a logic that is circumscribed by commitments to （1） religious pluralism, （2） theological agnosticism, and （3） epistemological pragmatism. Here we propose that a sermon＇s form, which implicitly touches upon these commitments, can tap into the basic modes of persuasion in secular liberal societies. This respects the moral purposes previously agreed upon and expected of partisans during highly contestable times. This calls for incarnational humility on the part of the Christian public theologian and it guides her/his practice.

Idiosyncracies of Democracy： Islamic Societies

The supposedly unique impact of Islamic culture on democracy has been debated by various scholars. While some argue that it has a deleterious effect, others explain why its effect is not any more negative than other religions. Some even argue that there is no reason to assume Islam has a negative impact on democracy at all. The results of empirical studies are equally confusing. While some support the negative view of Islam, others actually demonstrate its positive effect on democracy. This article contributes to this debate by focusing its attention on the often-neglected distinction between electoral and liberal democracies, comparing Islamic societies with the rest of the world. Its findings demonstrate that the religion of Islam cannot be used to explain the seeming lack of the growth of democracy among Islamic societies.

Toward a Security Community in Asia? The Limits of Constructivism, Developmental Statism, Liberalism, and Realism

This article asks whether a regional security community has emerged in Asia with the potential to grow mature and seeks to make a contribution to the ongoing debate on this controversial topic.It advances the argument that states in this broad region are far from being able to develop a security community for reasons different from those provided by political realists,developmental statists,liberals,and constructivists(social,discursive,and emancipationist).The role of Association of Southeast Asia(ASEAN)and that of China provide excellent test cases for the theoretical proposition that the building of a successful regional security community requires at least two necessary conditions:liberal democracy and regional democratic leadership,which remain absent in Asia.

The Politics of Human Perfection and the Politics of Human Imperfection： Chantal Mouffe versus Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens on European Inequalities

The title of this paper refers to Michael Oakeshott＇s distinction between the politics of faith and the politics of scepticism. The ＂faith＂ expresses a belief in the capacity of government to concentrate all the power and resources upon the project of human improvement and perfection, while the ＂scepticism＂ is the politics of the powerless in which government cannot produce perfection and enjoys only limited opportunity of directing the activities of its subjects. The aim of this article is to revise Oakeshott＇s distinction in order to apply it to the discussion on inequalities affecting Europe. This discussion held by Chantal Mouffe, Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens focused on issues such as： modern patterns of inequality, the coexistence of different ethnic, religious and political forms of life, ＂legitimization＂ of social inequalities, the institutionalization of norms of equality, the problem of recognition, the common identity and so on. The key question is： How the values of equality and justice are best realized in the structure of modern society？ To answer this question, it is necessary not only to assess critilically the authority of governments, but also to examine possible ways of development of the idea of liberal democracy and power relations in contemporary political socidtts. What is our perspective on the way to solve these problems--the reinvention of politics or democratizing democracy？ Even if this research will not help us to find the best political project, however we may be less often cheated in this discussion by irrelevant and ambiguous arguments.

Confucian Political Philosophy for Non-Confucians

Contemporary proponents of Confucian political philosophy often ignore the fact that any sizeable future Confucian political order will have to accommodate many “non-Confucians.” The guiding question of this paper is therefore the following: how could a Confucian political philosophy, if it can at all, adequately take into account a plurality of comprehensive worldviews? I first turn to John Rawls and his account of these terms and of reasonable pluralism more generally. I then examine some particularly relevant developments and criticism of Rawls’ account. Finally, I offer a discussion of some recent proposals for a Confucian political philosophy, and examine to what extent each recognizes the fact of pluralism, sees it as a challenge, and deals with it in a persuasive manner. The paper concludes with a depiction of two major stumbling blocks that might stand firmly in the way of such a pluralism-accommodating political Confucianism.