Moving on thin ice

Abstract

Climate change places democratic politics under severe normative pressure. Its consequences extend across borders, generations and ecological systems, while democratic institutions remain largely organised around present citizens, territorial representation and periodic participation. This thesis examines whether Confucianism can provide a normatively defensible response to the democratic deficits that arise in this context. It first analyses representative, deliberative and direct democracy, showing that climate change intensifies four problems: the representation gap, the epistemic concern, passive citizenship, and the tension between consensus and conflict. It then turns to Confucian moral and political thought, focusing on self-cultivation, relational responsibility, merit, and harmony. The thesis argues that Confucianism cannot function as a replacement for democracy, but it can strengthen environmental democracy when its concepts are reconstructed within democratic limits. This leads to a formative-relational model of environmental democracy. Self-cultivation becomes formative ecological citizenship; relational ethics becomes relational representation; Confucian merit becomes merit-sensitive judgement; and harmony becomes reparative agonism. Together, these concepts suggest that environmental democracy requires more than procedures, voting, or expert-led governance. It also requires institutions that form ecological responsibility, represent absent and dependent interests, integrate expertise without becoming technocratic, and sustain conflict without allowing democratic relations to collapse. Confucianism is therefore defensible as a critical resource for rethinking democratic life under ecological pressure.