Daoism and Anarchism

Rapp (political science, Beloit College) examines key moments in Chinese history when critiques of the State, from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the various incarnations of the imperial, appealed to anarchistic theories of one sort or another. In particular, he focuses on the otherwise religious tradition of Daoism. It's Rapp's objective to show that anarchism is not just a European-American formation. He argues that ignoring the anarchist element of the Daoist tradition distorts it, while defending against would-be anarchist critics who see this study as de-radicalizing by way of traditionalizing anarchism. The text is organized into two main sections, the first on Daoism and anarchism. There he reconsiders the anarchist content of Daoism; utopian, dystopian, and anti-utopian ideas in Daoism; and Buddhist influence. An interlude shifts the conversation to the Chinese anarchist movement in the 20th century. The second section examines anarchism's relationship with Maoism, including an analysis of Mao's response to the anarchist critique of Marxism, persecution of anarchists by the PRC, neo-anarchist critiques of the state from outside the Party, as well as internal anarchist critiques of the Leninist party-state. A postlude argues for the continuing relevance of Daoist anarchism. Several short appendices excerpting the works of Daoist anarchists appear in the back. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) More

John A. Rapp is Professor of Political Science at Beloit College, USA where he founded the Asian Studies program and served as chair of the Political Science department. His teaching interests include Chinese politics, Communist and post-Communist systems, comparative democracies, and Chinese and comparative political thought. He coauthored Autocracy and China's Rebel Founding Emperors (with Anita Andrew) and has published in many journals, including Anarchist Studies and the Journal of Comparative Asian Development.