Paradigms of Chinese Politics: kicking society back out

Abstract

More than three decades of research since reforms were launched has significantly expanded our understanding of China's changing political landscape. In that period, new paradigmatic assumptions have been brought to bear on the study of China to challenge the traditional state-centered approach. Among these have been state -society, society-centered, historical, and globalized models. While such works have enriched our understanding of this dynamic polity, a close reading of them shows that the state-centered paradigm remains the most appropriate one for the study of China's politics. Brief consideration is given to the reasons for this and to how it might change.

The Framework of Crisis‐Induced Agenda Setting in China

“…In sum, Chinese policymaking is becoming only pluralized—not democratized—due to the constant dominance of the Chinese party‐state (Han ). In the core of the political system, the fundamental feature of policymaking in China has seldom experienced earth‐shaking change and is far from scientific and democratic decision‐making (Mertha ; Wang ; Gilley ; Stockmann & Gallagher ).…”

Chinese employer associations, institutional complementarity and countervailing power

“…This latter possibility is evidenced by Sheldon et al (2016), who describe how the institutional complementarity that informed the interaction of state officials, employers and workers through the post-war years in Australia and Italy was disrupted by the onset of decentralized collective bargaining and how this process reconfigured EAs’ activities. In this article it is posited that melding the notions of institutional complementarity and countervailing power, as reconceptualized by Barry and Wilkinson (2011), can help explain the changing role of EAs in China, where the Leninist market-socialist state dominates the polity (Gilley, 2011) and the employment relations system is undergoing a historic transformation.…”

“…The statist view has dominated debate on business mobilization. It accepts that while China is transitioning to a market economy, the Communist Party is determined that a Leninist state with socialist legacies will be retained (Gilley, 2011; Napoleoni, 2012). The consequent ‘market-Leninist’ system permits sectoral organizations to mobilize but this process is closely managed by the state in order to minimize the risk of capitalist restoration (Unger and Chan, 2015; Zhang, 2008).…”

Introduction: Ideology, Propaganda, and Political Discourse in the Xi Jinping Era

“…As expected, Xi Jinping Thought was enshrined in the party constitution at the 19th CPC Congress, with the limitation on the number of terms the State Chairman (guojia zhuxi) and State Vice-Chairman (guojia fuzhuxi) could serve being removed from the PRC's constitution by the National People's Congress in March 2018, 5 effectively enabling Xi to rule for another decade. 6 As the article states, Xi Jinping has until now been able to deliver focused political commitments, setting forward the practical goal of the BGreat Rejuvenation of the Great Chinese Nation^and arguing that the party's rule is necessary for achieving it. Since the 19th CPC Congress, Xi Jinping's name has become synonymous with the BNew Era^in China, but his BThought^is strictly associated with his signature traits analyzed in the article, such as strengthening the emotional appeal of the Party's message and asserting the continuity of China's rule by tapping into various, even contradictory, layers of Chinese cultural tradition.…”

“…It is the CPC's simultaneous ability to modernize and adapt, as well as its adherence to Leninist ideological and organizational principles, which has engendered a neo-socialist system where the combination of centralization, strengthening, and the adoption of a selective retreat of the party-state has played a crucial role in guaranteeing both economic growth and social stability ( [15], [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. The state-centered paradigm, therefore, seems to remain the most valid one for the study of Chinese contemporary politics [6]. Since the ascendancy of the fifth generation's leadership in November 2012, the CPC, with Xi Jinping at its core as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has been intent on enhancing the party's governance over state and society and pursuing a proactive foreign policy [12].…”