41
Zhang‘s founders—meaningful and effective in a political community. As such, the process of
recognition and ―accommodation‖ incited by an instance of difference is more definitively other-
oriented than are self-awareness or the self-use of talent, inviting a closer look at the implications
of accommodation for the political arenas and discourses Zhang was trying to construct.
Zhang‘s theory of ―accommodation‖ (tiaohe 調和) presents the second meaning of
difference, political dissent, as an interplay of forces, ideas, or interests that sharpens the
commitment of its participants without fostering mutual exclusivity. Drawing heavily on Walter
Bagehot and John Morley, Zhang insists that a spirit of dissent and compromise can both play
roles in China‘s political advancement, as they did in Britain (ZQJ 254). At the same time, it is
also one of its preconditions. As Zhang points out, citing Bagehot‘s lack of appreciation for the
habits of the British that make their government successful, ―Only once a nation allows
dissenting opinions to flourish, can it have cabinet government‖ (ZQJ 9). China must not only
have a parliamentary system, but a range of opinions to express in it. ―Accommodation‖ is part
of this imported framework, but yet at the same time remains uniquely capable of resolving the
problems of difference and disagreement that arise as China transitions, peacefully and
incrementally, to democratic rule. In contrast to Western agonists and difference democrats,
however, Zhang characterizes public commonality as multiple ―accommodations‖ (tiaohe)
incrementally negotiated within interpersonal relationships, rather than the a priori space that
forms the basis for resistance to imposed authority. Zhang thus draws attention to how even
public discussions do violence to difference by assuming a willing and pre-formed public to
govern the terms of political action.
In the sixth and final chapter, I build from this critique of an already-existing public space
to challenge a key distinction that for a diverse range of Western political theory discourses
Convention