CHINAS NEW GOVERNING PARTY PARADIGM
Rethinking Asia and International Relations
Series Editor: Emilian Kavalski,
Australian Catholic University (Sydney)
This series provides thoughtful consideration both of the growing prominence of Asian actors on the global stage and the changes in the study and practice of world affairs that they provoke. It offers a comprehensive parallel assessment of the full spectrum of Asian states, organisations, and regions and their impact on the dynamics of global politics.
The series encourages conversation on:
what rules, norms, and strategic cultures are likely to dominate international life in the Asian Century;
how will global problems be reframed and addressed by a rising Asia;
which institutions, actors, and states are likely to provide leadership during such shifts to the East;
whether there is something distinctly Asian about the emerging patterns of global politics.
Such comprehensive engagement not only offers a critical assessment of the actual and prospective roles of Asian actors, but rethinks the concepts, practices, and frameworks of analysis of world politics.
Other titles in this series
Contentious Integration
Post-Cold War JapanChina Relations in the Asia-Pacific
Chien-peng Chung
The Long Peace of East Asia
Timo Kivimki
Harmonious Intervention
Chinas Quest for Relational Security
Chiung-Chiu Huang and Chih-yu Shih
North Korea and Security Cooperation in Northeast Asia
Edited by Tae-Hwan Kwak and Seung-Ho Joo
Chinas New Diplomacy
Rationale, Strategies and Significance
Zhiqun Zhu
Chinas New Governing Party Paradigm
Political Renewal and the Pursuit of National Rejuvenation
TIMOTHY R. HEATH
First published 2014 by Ashgate Publishing
Published 2016 by Routledge
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Copyright Timothy R. Heath 2014
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Heath, Timothy R.
Chinas new governing party paradigm : political renewal and the pursuit of national rejuvenation / by Timothy R. Heath.
pages cm. -- (Rethinking Asia and international relations)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4094-6201-9 (hardback) -- ISBN 978-1-4094-6202-6 (ebook) -- ISBN 978-1-4724-0766-5 (epub) 1. Zhongguo gong chan dang--Party work 2. China--Politics and government--1949- 3. Political leadership--China. 4. Public administration--China. 5. Government accountability--China. 6. Communism--China--History. I. Title.
JQ1519.A5H373 2015
324.251075--dc23
2014028395
ISBN 9781409462019 (hbk)
ISBN 9781315571744 (ebk)
Contents
List of Tables
List of Appendices
Preface and Acknowledgments
Despite its shift towards a more pragmatic politics, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains an organization deeply shaped by its Leninist lineage and by older political traditions. The central role played by its Marxist-Leninist ideology and a continued reliance on an elaborate hierarchy of central directives to control policy reflect those legacies. While many excellent studies have touched on these topics, little scholarship is available to guide the systematic study of the role played by ideology and central directives in the CCPs political system. The best analysis, by experts such as Michael Oksenberg, Kenneth Lieberthal, and Franz Schurmann, are now several decades old and in many cases predate the reform and opening up period. This book aims, at the most basic level, to contribute to the study of ideology and central directives to better understand the politics and government of China.
The inspiration for this book arose from an experience which suggested to me that the study of ideological concepts and central directives remain under appreciated. While conducting academic research on the military writings attributed to Hu Jintao around 2007, I encountered a concept, widely trumpeted in PLA theoretical journals and official newspapers, which indicated Chinas leaders had made important changes to the militarys strategic responsibilities. The significance of the historic missions of the armed forces is now widely acknowledged, but at the time of my research, virtually no western scholarship existed on the topic. In pondering this fact, I observed among western scholarly writings a general unfamiliarity with many of the partys ideological concepts and the role that those concepts played in the CCPs formulation of strategy and policy. In 2009, I published my first academic article on the partys military strategy. In the article, I explored the intersection between ideology, central directives, and military strategy. Some of the main concerns underpinning that paper permeated much of my subsequent research. In particular, the relationship between the partys ideology and its legitimacy; the significance of the various levels of authoritativeness and types of official documents; and the role of political concepts in strategy and policy formulation, struck me as extremely important for understanding Chinese politics. I returned to these points in subsequent writings on Chinas national strategy, and these themes figure prominently in this study as well.
Although my original intent for this book focused on the creation of a guide to the partys national strategy, a second purpose emerged over the course of my research. As I analyzed party writings, I noticed trends towards a greater focus on the systematization and standardization of ideas, documents, and political processes throughout the 2000s. I realized that these trends served as symptoms of a larger, more important development; namely, the CCPs adoption of a new paradigm, or archetype, of its role in the Chinese polity. The self-designation as a governing party (zhizheng dang) represented the CCPs first new such paradigm since its founding as a revolutionary party (geming dang) in 1921.
Surprisingly little has been written on the political and ideological consequences of the CCPs adoption of the governing party paradigm. While widely acknowledged as important, few studies examine the impact of this important conceptual shift and its implications for Chinese politics. This book focuses on one slice of this broad and important topic. It examines how the party is adapting the processes through which it develops national level strategy and policy making to better execute the broadened policy agenda inherent in the governing party paradigm. The thesis of the book, simply stated, is that the partys adoption of the governing party paradigm has elevated and refined the meaning of strategic leadership as a core function of the CCP. The political requirements to meet this demand have driven deep and lasting ideological and political reforms. The CCP led government has seen some progress towards the realization of these reforms, although the transformation remains deeply incomplete. As such, China today features a unique system of government that lies somewhere between a classic Leninist regime and a more stable mode of single party rule characterized by a higher level of technical competence and the stable and efficient administration of authority through laws and regulations.
