What and whose Confucianism? Sinophone communities and dialogical geopolitics

Abstract

This commentary responds to An et al.’s (2021) article, ‘Towards a Confucian Geopolitics’, by re-examining ‘the political’ of Confucianism and its contribution to fostering a cosmopolitan form of Confucian geopolitics. By taking note of the differences within and between Sinophone communities, we discuss the variegated forms of Confucianism, and their various geopolitical implications. In doing so, we call for re-theorising Confucian geopolitics as dialogical geopolitics that challenges the cultural and ideological basis of statist and Sino-centric geopolitics.