The Elements of Confucius Philosophy helping in Better Role of Government

                It has been argued so for that Confucius philosophy may not be fully implemented in today’s political structure, where so many challenges are ahead in different regions of the world, but it is believed that there are many elements of Confucius philosophy, which are still relevant, and they can be integrated by governments to govern their role and fulfill their responsibilities, which they owe to their people. It has always believed that democratic values and Confucius values do undermine each other, but when things are analyzed closely, the results can be different. A study was conducted in Taiwan to see that what kind of effect Confucius philosophy can have for supporting human rights and democracy in Taiwan. It is important to mention that Taiwan was selected for this research study, because it has shown various elements of a Confucius society, where Confucius values are welcomes more than any other society. Even, the concept of Confucianism has been considered to be an important part of public school education as well as including its values in temples etc. These aspects show that Confucianism is still very much relevant in the modern times. The public opinion surveys were conducted by researchers to collect data, and results taken from the study showed that democracy and its liberal values are not undermined by Confucianism. It was also found that basic values of Confucius philosophy were not reducing their support for process of democratization. In addition to that results indicated that Taiwan will continue to its democratization process having so many values from Confucianism, which again shows that Confucianism can be integrated with democratic process to determine a proper role of government for its people [1]

            It is a fact to keep in mind that most of governments around the world are based on the idea of democracy, so, when Confucius philosophy is analyzed along with democracy, they do have various point to differ from each other, but these points can be adjusted accordingly to integrate democracy in a Confucius society or vice versa. When a question is raised regarding Confucius philosophy, whether it has essence of democracy or not, then answer can be given by looking at basic idea of both. It is a fact that democratic values are based on general good for society and its people, where people are given the most important. The rights of people should be protected by democratic rulers to fulfill their role of government. This same idea is also basic element of Confucius philosophy that common good of people is protected and government should emphasize on their people in different ways. The rights of people is a conflicting area between democracy and Confucius philosophy, but it is not that Confucius philosophy asks for violating individual rights, rather Confucius philosophy asks for self governance and self control so that people do get their rights [2]

            It is important to realize the fact that in today’s world, where so many issues are there, and people has to deal with various frauds, conflicts, failures, personal greed etc, then it is hard to think of a society, which may not have any legal infrastructure to follow rules, and getting punished in case of any violation. It is believed in Confucius philosophy that role of government is not to govern people by rule of law; rather they should be governed with morality and ethical principles. The issues related to violation of laws and moral values are common in government, private sector as well as business sector. People do involve in unethical and fraudulent practices, because they do not value ethics and morality to be followed in their personal conduct. If a person would think that he/she is responsible for society as well, so he/she should conduct his/her personal behavior in a way, which follows ethical and moral guidelines as propagated by Confucius philosophy. But in real world situations, people ignore moral and ethical values, and involve in unethical practices because they do not feel the responsibility of being an important member of society, and do not think that their wrong conduct do have effect on others. The governments around the world should encourage ethical and moral values propagated by Confucius philosophy, and these values should be injected in youth through their school and college education. It is believed that governments and societies around the world can have a sustainable and better future if Confucius values are injected into society with collective efforts of the government. It can be done by integrating Confucius philosophy and its values into learning and education process by the governments around the world [3]

            The modern economic model is changing with the passage of time, and it needs to have various changing elements on constant basis to keep thing going in right direction. It is important to look at some values from Confucius philosophy to see that what role it can play for governments in driving the process of economic development. It was important to study an economic model so that importance of Confucius values can be known. Therefore, a study was conducted by researchers to analyze modern Japanese economic development in light of Confucian ethics. The basic purpose was to see if there is any relationship between Japanese economic development and Confucian ethics. In post World War II era, there was a time, when Japan started to develop its industry, and various Confucian ethics were adopted by its business fraternity as well as government rulers. The study looked at various Confucian ethics adopted by government bureaucracy, the workplace and educational institutions. The results from the study were very positive in this regard that Confucian ethics were relevant to economic development of Japan in so many ways. It was found that Japanese elite did use these ethics to continue with the process of economic development. The study was not able to find any precise effects of Confucian ethics on Japanese economic development, but it did find that various positive effects were made by these Confucian ethics. The central values propagated through Confucian ethics played an important role of social and economic development of Japan. The Confucian ethics such as loyalty, social harmony as well as Familism were adopted by government people, and they did get many benefits from these ethics [4]

            It is strongly believed that concepts given by Confucius in his political philosophy have been putting their considerable effects on people around the world, and this trend still continued in so many ways, because many elements of his philosophy are still relevant with their full effect. It is a fact that Chinese society has always been envisioned through values preached by Confucius, and these values have determined the essence of Chinese societies. The beauty of Confucian ethics and values is that they are still relevant for modern Chinese and world society, and if anyone wants to integrate these ethics to perform proper role of government, then they can do it by adopting these ethics with their full perspectives. It is believed that ordinary people from China are looking to return back to basic idea and values of Confucianism so that they can find spiritual and internal nourishment, which has vanished from their lives. In today’s world, where there is much panic around due to various conflicts, the people are not able to find peace and harmony around, which has always been an important element of Confucius ethics. If world has to get back that harmony and peace, they can look to do so with the help of Confucius philosophy, as it always encouraged to develop a society, which is following the essence of harmony and peace [5]

        The Confucius values are important to conduct the behavior of people based on ethics and morality, where they make sure that they are responsible parts of their society, and they do not involve in any kind of wrong doings so that society can be equal and peaceful for all. The other great thing about Confucius philosophy is that various aspects of this idea are not only valid for governments to perform better in their dedicated roles, but it can also provide a great roadmap to develop business and management ethics to drive the activity of economic development. If governments ensure that Confucius ethics are integrated in their role, and they force businesses and other stakeholders to follow these ethics, then businesses would become more responsible to their relevant societies. For instance, if a business knows that its certain business activities are harming the nearby society, then they may stop doing those activities following the idea of Confucius ethics. So, the basic idea of Confucius concept is very much relevant in any given society, and if its elements are properly analyzed and integrated in assigning role of governments, then governments can certainly do lot better in protecting the rights of their people [6]