The Chinese corporation: representation of Confucian communitarian values in the relation between government and corporation in China.

Abstract

This thesis seeks to analyze to what extent Confucian communitarian values are reflected in the relationship between government and corporation in China. In order to do so, it will first explain what Confucian communitarian values are. The values that are relevant specifically for our purpose are found in and described here according to the discourse that compares Confucian communitarian and liberalist political ideas. After that, how the corporation and government relate to each other will be described from an historical perspective. What defines this relationship is that on the one hand, corporations developed as privately controlled collectives that organized themselves by a logic of kinship, while on the other hand, government tries to control corporations to the extent that their interests are in line with government goals. Closer analysis will point out that the values at play are the liberalist notion that rights need protection against public interference, and the Confucian communitarian notion of the state as father or benevolent ruler of the people. This thesis will point out that historically speaking, government is struggling to institutionalize both of these elements.