Confucianism, democratization, and human rights in Taiwan

Evaluating the "Asian values" thesis in Taiwan, Confucianism, Democratization, and Human Rights in Taiwan, by Joel S. Fetzer and J. Christopher Soper, concludes that while Confucian values were used to bolster authoritarianism under martial law and played little role in democratization, they are now being reinterpreted in a pro-democratic direction. Based on elite interviews, survey research, and content analysis of legislative debates and public school textbooks, this study makes a much-needed empirical contribution to the largely theoretical debate about the political effects of Confucianism.