Confucianism and war mobilization: evidence from Chinese revolutions

Yang Cai, Sijie Hu and Shengmin Sun ()
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Yang Cai: School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
Sijie Hu: School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China
Shengmin Sun: School of Economics, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China

Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, 2024, vol. 18, issue 2, 493-529

Abstract: The Communist Party of China (CPC) achieved a series of military successes in revolutionary wars. Based on new county-level panel datasets from China, this study uses the shocks brought about by a civil and foreign war to test the impact of Confucianism on the war mobilization capacity of the CPC. We find that, during the civil war, Confucianism did not significantly affect CPC’s war mobilization; however, during the foreign war, it significantly improved CPC’s capacity to mobilize people. This demonstrates the differentiated effects of Confucianism by war type through three different mechanisms: “loyalty,” “just war,” and “patriotism.” Our findings shed light on the role of native cultural norms in collective action.

Keywords: Cultural; norms; ·; Confucianism; ·; War; mobilization; ·; Collective; actions; ·; Soldier; deaths (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D70 H56 N95 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:afc:cliome:v:18:y:2024:i:2:p:493-529

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