在近年来英语世界的儒学研究中，长期以来一直被看作儒家短处的政治哲学成了显学。这类研究的一个特点是试图以古代儒家的思想来解决当代的社会政治问题，而不是满足于对古代儒家文本的诠释。这类研究的另一个特点则是与当代西方的政治哲学形成对话，从而彰显古代儒家传统对当代政治哲学的贡献。在这样的研究中，最引人注目的有儒家美德政治论、儒家国家完善论、儒家分配正义论和儒家民主论。在其中的每一个领域，儒家政治哲学家们从不同的角度出发，提出了一系列不同的版本，而每一个版本都具有重要的启发意义。

In recent Confucian studies in the English-speaking world, Confucian political philosophy, which has long been regarded a weak spot in the Confucian tradition, has become the most prominent area of interest. There are two unique features of this interest in Confucian political philosophy. On the one hand, instead of being exclusively focused on interpretations of relevant Confucian classics, it aims to bring the ancient Confucian tradition to bear on the social and political issues we are facing today. On the other hand, it is carried out in living dialogues with prominent Western political philosophers, which makes it possible for Confucianism to make its unique contributions to contemporary political philosophy. This trend in the interest of Confucian political philosophy has produced high quality works in, among others,(1) virtue politics,(2) state perfectionism,(3) distributive justice, and(4) Confucian democracy, each of which includes a number of creative positions.