Regime inclusion and the resilience of authoritarianism: The local people's political consultative conference in post-mao Chinese politics

China Journal

Volumn , Issue 66, 2011, Pages 53-75

  Xiaojun, Yan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG   (Hong Kong)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AUTHORITARIANISM; HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; LOCAL PARTICIPATION; POLITICAL HISTORY;

CHINA;

EID: 79961156543     PISSN: 13249347     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/tcj.66.41262807     Document Type: Article

References (128)

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2. Beatriz Magaloni, "Credible Power-Sharing and the Longevity of Authoritarian Rule", Comparative Political Study, Vol. 41, No. 1 (January 2008), p. 718.
3. Ibid.
4. Kenneth Jowitt, Inclusion and Mobilization in European Leninist Regimes", World Politics, Vol. 28, No. 1 (October 1975), p. 69.
5. Stephen White, "Economic Performance and Communist Legitimacy", World Politics, Vol. 38, No. 3 (April 1986), p. 470.
6. As a typical county in North China, Z County's economic development is modest and the scale of its private sector is limited. Also, no major reform of the County's PPCC system has been attempted. The activities of the Z County PPCC can be best seen as "politics as usual' and thus present a good case study for the PPCC's routine functions in local politics. 7 Supplementary interviews were conducted in late 2010.
7. The full official title of the Z County PPCC is 'The Z County Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian weiyuan hui), but in everyday political discourse it is more often referred to as the County PPCC (xian zhengxie).
8. Lyman P. Van Slyke, Enemies and Friends: The United Front in Chinese Communist History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1967).
9. James D. Seymour, China's Satellite Parties (Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1987).
10. Gerry Groot, Managing Transitions: The Chinese Communist Party, United Front Work, Corporatism, and Hegemony (London: Routledge, 2004).
11. Lucan Way, "Resistance to Contagion: Sources of Authoritarian Stability in the Former Soviet Union", in Valerie Bunce, Michael McFaul and Kathryn Stoner-Weiss (eds), Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Post-Communist World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), p. 230.
12. Jason Brownlee, Authoritarianism in an Age of Democratization (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
13. Marsha Pripstein Posusney, "Enduring Authoritarianism: Middle East Lessons for Comparative Theory", Comparative Politics, Vol. 36, No. 2 (January 2004), pp. 127-38.
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15. Yahya Sadowski, "The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate", Middle East Report, No. 183 (July-August 1993), pp. 14-21.
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17. Andreas Schedler (ed.), Electoral Authoritarianism: The Dynamics of Unfree Competition (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006).
18. Lisa Wedeen, Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbol in Contemporary Syria (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999).
19. Kenneth F. Greene, "The Political Economy of Authoritarian Single- Party Dominance", Comparative Political Study, Vol. 47, No. 7 (March 2009), pp. 807-34.
20. Jennifer Gandhi, Political Institutions under Dictatorship (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
21. Andrew J. Nathan, "Authoritarian Resilience", Journal of Democracy, Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 2003), p. 6.
22. Ibid., p. 15.
23. Bruce J. Dickson, Wealth into Power: The Communist Party's Embrace of China's Private Sector (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
24. David Shambaugh, China's Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)
25. Kellee S. Tsai, Capitalism Without Democracy: The Private Sector in Contemporary China (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2007).
26. John P. Burns, "Downsizing the Chinese State: Government Retrenchment in the 1990s", The China Quarterly, No. 175 (September 2003), pp. 775-802.
27. Jonathan Unger, "'Bridges': Private Business, the Chinese Government and the Rise of New Associations", The China Quarterly, No. 147 (September 1996), pp. 795-819.
28. Dali L. Yang, Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of Governance in China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004).
29. Kevin J. O'Brien, "Local People's Congresses and Governing China", The China Journal, No. 61 (January 2009), pp. 132-141.
30. Young Nam Cho, "From 'Rubber Stamp' to 'Iron Stamp': The Emergence of Chinese Local People's Congresses as Supervisory Powerhouses", The China Quarterly, No. 171 (September 2002), pp. 724-40.
31. Tai Ming Cheung, "Guarding China's Domestic Front Line: The People's Armed Police and China's Stability", The China Quarterly, No. 146 (June 1996), pp. 525-47.
32. Murray Scot Tanner and Eric Green, "Principals and Secret Agents: Central versus Local Control Over Policing and Obstacles to 'Rule of Law' in China", The China Quarterly, No. 19 (September 2007), pp. 644-70.
33. Xi Chen, "Collective Petitioning and Institutional Conversion", in Kevin O'Brien (ed.), Popular Protest in China (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), pp. 54-70.
34. Cai Yongshun, "Managed Participation in China", Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 119, No. 3 (2004), pp. 425-51.
35. Kevin O'Brien and Li Lianjiang, "The Politics of Lodging Complaints in Rural China", The China Quarterly, No. 143 (September 1995), pp. 756-783.
36. Andrew J. Nathan, "Authoritarian Resilience".
37. Andrew Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984).
38. Xiaobo Lü and Elizabeth J. Perry (eds), Danwei: The Changing Chinese Workplace in Historical and Comparative Perspective (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997).
39. Richard C. Kraus, Class Conflict in Chinese Socialism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981).
40. John P. Burns, "Rewarding Comrades at the Top in China", in Christopher Hood and B. Guy Peters with G. Lee (eds), Reward for High Public Office: Asian and Pacific Rim States (London: Routledge, 2003), pp. 49-69.
41. Richard C. Kraus, Class Conflict in Chinese Socialism.
42. Hong Yung Lee, From Revolutionary Cadres to Party Technocrats in Socialist China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991).
43. Elizabeth J. Perry, Shanghai on Strike: The Politics of Chinese Labour (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993).
44. Elizabeth J. Perry and Li Xun, Proletarian Power: Shanghai in the Cultural Revolution (Boulder: Westview Press, 1997).
45. Andrew G. Walder, "Communist Social Structure and Workers' Politics in China", in Victor C. Falkenheim (ed.), Citizens and Groups in Contemporary China (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1987), pp. 45-89.
46. Dorothy J. Solinger, Contesting Citizenship in Urban China: Peasant Migrants, the State, and the Logic of the Market (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).
47. Martin K. Whyte (ed.), One Country, Two Societies: Rural-Urban Inequality in Contemporary China (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2010).
48. Martin K. Whyte and William L. Parish, Urban Life in Contemporary China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985).
49. Elizabeth J. Perry and Li Xun, Proletarian Power.
50. Stephen White, "Economic Performance and Communist Legitimacy", p. 470.
51. In 1946, a 'Political Consultative Conference' was summoned by the KMT, in an attempt to form a joint post-war government with various political forces, including the Communists. The failure of that conference led China into a three-year Civil War that ended with the founding of the PRC. In the PRC's official discourse, the post-1949 PPCC under Communist auspices is later referred to as the 'New' Political Consultative Conference.
52. Dangdai Zhongguo de renmin zheng xie (China Today: The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, hereafter DDZGZX) (Beijing: Dangdai Zhongguo Chubanshe [1993], pp. 1-12).
53. DDZGZX, p. 245.
54. Preamble to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, see http:// www.gov.cn/english/2005-08/05/content_20813.htm (accessed 24 December 2010). However, neither the formal structure nor the functionality of the PPCC is defined by the Constitution. 27 DDZGZX, p. 404.
55. Similar to the National PPCC, the local PPCC in Z County was originally founded in December 1949, two years after the People's Liberation Army took over the territory. It was disbanded in December 1954 (after the County People's Congress was convened in July 1954) and remained closed from 1954 to 1984.
56. Zxian zhi (Gazeteer of Z County) (Beijing: Fangzhi Chubanshe, 1999), p. 490.
57. In the official discourse, 'new social strata' refers to private entrepreneurs, households with specific expertise and local professionals owning private practices (such as medical doctors, veterinarians, drivers or service providers for various agricultural productions).
58. DDZGZX, p. 404.
59. "Guanyu choujian Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian weiyuanhui de tongzhi" (A Circular on the Creation of Z County Committee of the PPCC), Archival Document 3-05 (7 February 1984).
60. "Z xian zhengxie huanjie lingdao xiaozu guanyu huanjie choubei gongzuo qingkuang de baogao" (A Report on the Conditions of the Re-selection of PPCC Members of Z County), Archival Document 1-05 (11 April 1990), p. 3.
61. "Zhengxie Z xian disanjie weiyuanhui weiyuan tuijianbiao" (Recommendation Form of Z County PPCC Member), Archival Document 6-02.
62. As a general rule, Communist Party members older than 60 and non-Communists older than 65 are not granted membership renewal. In 1990, these age limits were lowered to 58 for CCP members and 63 for non-Communists.
63. "Z xian zhengxie huanjie choubei lingdao xiaozu guanyu huanjie choubei gongzuo de baogao" (A Report by the Leading Group for the Reselection of Members of the Z County PPCC), Archival Document 1-01 (6 May 1987); Archival Document 1-05, p. 2.
64. Membership renewal should not be granted to members who have changed job and hence lost occupational 'representativeness' or to members with a serious health problem.
65. Archival Document 1-01.
66. Archival Document 1-05, p. 2.
67. Archival Document 1-01, p. 3.
68. Archival Document 1-95, p. 3.
69. Archival Document 1-01.
70. Archival Document 1-05, p. 1.
71. The percentage of non-Communist PPCC members dropped slightly in the early 1990s. This was mostly due to the Communist Party's aggressive effort to recruit entrepreneurs, technological experts, professionals and other local élites under the Jiang Zemin administration. For the CCP's changing recruitment practice in the 1990s.
72. Andrew Walder, Bobai Li and Donald J. Treiman, "Politics and Life Chances in a State Socialist Regime: Dual Career Paths into the Urban Chinese Élite, 1949-1996", American Sociological Review, Vol. 65, No. 2 (April 2000), pp. 191-209.
73. Bruce J. Dickson, Wealth into Power; David Shambaugh, China's Communist Party.
74. Interview with the General Secretary of Z County PPCC, 6 December 2010.
75. "Tuchu sige zhongdian, gaohao sange zhuanbian, kaichuang zhengxie gongzuo xinjumian" (Emphasize Four Items, Manage Three Transitions, Open a New Chapter of the Work of the PPCC), Archival Document 1-12 (26 December 1993).
76. DDZGZX, p. 445.
77. Archival Document 1-12, p. 1.
78. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian di'erjie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao" (Working Report of the Standing Committee of the 2nd PPCC Session of Z County), Archival Document 1-06 (11 April 1990), p. 3.
79. Archival Document 1-12, p. 1.
80. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diyijie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao" (Working Report of the Standing Committee of the 1st PPCC Session of Z County), Archival Document 1-02 (7 May 1987), p. 5.
81. Archival Document 1-02 (7 May 1987), p. 5.
82. Ibid.
83. Archival Document 1-17, p. 6.
84. Archival Document 1-06, p. 4.
85. Archival Document 1-06, p. 5.
86. "Zhengxie Z xian disanjie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao" (Working Report of the Standing Committee of the 3rd PPCC Session of Z County), Archival Document 1-11 (21 March 1992), p. 6; "Zhengxie Z xian disanjie changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao", Archival Document 1-08 (25 March 1991), p. 3.
87. Interview with the General Secretary of Z County PPCC, 6 December 2010.
88. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diqijie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao" (Working Report of the Standing Committee of the 7th PPCC Session of Z County), Archival Document 10-2 (1 February 2010).
89. Initiated in the mid-1900s, Guangce Shiye is a national organization with charitable goals. Under the auspices of the Central United Front Work Department of the CCP and with its membership primarily comprised of private business owners, this organization has become one of the major institutional structures which the Party-state utilizes to enlist financial support from China's nouveaux riches for the central state's poverty alleviation efforts.
90. Zheng Wantong, "Nuli kaichuang Guangcai Shiye gongzuo xinjumian" (Striving to Open a New Chapter of the Guangcai Shiye), in Zhang Xuwu (ed.), Zhongguo siying jingji nianjian (The Yearbook of China's Private Businesses) (Beijing: Zhonghua Gongshang Lianhe Chubanshe, 1996), pp. 117-120.
91. Archival Document 10-1, p. 26.
92. Interview with representatives of Z County PPCC, 6 December 2010.
93. 'Zhengxie Z xian weiyuanhui qian bageyue de gongzuo zongjie he hou sigeyue de gongzuo yijian" (A Report on the Work of Z County PPCC in the First Four Months and Proposals for the Next Eight Months), Archival Document 3-03 (25 August 1990), p. 2.
94. Archival Document 1-08, p. 4.
95. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diwujie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao" (Working Report of the Standing Committee of the 5th PPCC Session of Z County), Archival Document 1-15 (9 March 1999), pp. 5-6.
96. "Xin Z xian zhi gao di ba zhang" (Manuscript of Chapter 8 of the New Z County Gazetteer), Archival Document 10-1, pp. 15-20.
97. Archival Document 3-03, pp. 2-3.
98. "Zhengxie disanjie changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao", Archival Document 1-11 (21 March 1992), p. 5.
99. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diwujie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao", Archival Document 1-17 (22 January 2000), p. 4.
100. Archival Document 10-1, p. 25.
101. Interview with the Deputy Head of Z County Department of United Front Works, 8 December 2010.
102. "Zhengxie Z xian weiyuanhui ti'an gongzuo tiaoli (shi xing)" (Regulations on the Proposal Work of the Z County PPCC [Trial Edition]), Archival Document 2-02, p. 4.
103. This implies discussion of political ideology and so on.
104. Archival Document 2-02, p. 5.
105. Unlike the local People's Congress, questions and proposals from PPCC members can be directed to both the Communist Party's working departments and the local government. Given that the PPCC is the organizational structure of the Communist Party's United Front, the Party itself is obliged to answer questions or proposals raised by the PPCC (but not the People's Congress, which is the nominal legislature).
106. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diqijie weiyuanhui changwu weiyuanhui guanyu qijie sanci huiyi yilai ti'an gongzuo qingkuang de baogao" (Report by the Standing Committee of the 7th Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals Since the 3rd Plenary Session), Archival Document 10-3 (1 February 2010), p. 3.
107. "Guanyu zhixian chang gaiwei xianban jitiqiye de jianyi" (A Suggestion on Changing the Wool Thread Manufacturing Factory into a County Level Enterprise), Archival Document 3-01 (24 December 1992).
108. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diyijie weiyuanhui ti'an gongzuo weiyuanhui guanyu ti'an gongzuo qingkuang de baogao" (Report by the Sub-Committee on Proposal Work of the 1st Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals), Archival Document 1-03 (7 May 1987).
109. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian di'erjie weiyuanhui ti'an gongzuo weiyuanhui ti'an gongzuo qingkuang baogao" (Report by the Sub-Committee on Proposal Work of the 2nd Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals), Archival Document 1-07 (11 April 1990).
110. st Plenary Meeting), Archival Document 1-09 (25 March 1991).
111. rd Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals since the 2nd Plenary Meeting), Archival Document 1-10 (21 March 1992).
112. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian disijie weiyuanhui ti'an weiyuanhui guanyu sijie sanci huiyi yilai ti'an gongzuo qingkuang baogao" (Report by the Sub-Committee on Proposal Work of the 4th Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals since the 3rd Plenary Meeting), Archival Document 1-16 (14 March 1996).
113. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diwujie weiyuanhui ti'an weiyuanhui guanyu wujie yici huiyi yilai ti'an gongzuo qingkuang de baogao" (Report by the Sub-Committee on Proposal Work of the 5th Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals since the 1st Plenary Meeting), Archival Document 1-14 (9 March 1999).
114. "Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi Z xian diwujie weiyuanhui ti'an weiyuanhui guanyu wujie er'ci huiyi yilai ti'an gongzuo qingkuang de baogao" (Report by the Sub-Committee on Proposal Work of the 5th Session of the Z County PPCC on the Processing of Proposals since the 2nd Plenary Meeting), Archival Document 1-18 (22 January 2000).
115. Archival Document 10-1, p. 27.
116. Ibid., pp. 39-32.
117. Other such institutions include the internal reference system of the news media, the Letters and Visits Bureau and the Disciplinary Inspection Committee.
118. "Jiaqiang zuzhi lingdao, tigao ban'an zhiliang" (Strengthen Leadership and Enhance the Quality of Proposal Processing), Archival Document 4-02, p. 1.
119. "Zai jinyibu zuohao fanying sheqing minyi gongzuo dianhua huiyi shang de jianghua" (A Speech delivered at the Teleconference on Further Improving the Work of Reporting Social Conditions and Public Opinions), Archival Document 4-03 (17 June 1997), p. 2.
120. Archival Document 4-03 (17 June 1997), pp. 6-7.
121. "Z xian zhengxie jianxun" (Newsletter of the Z County PPCC), Archival Document 5-03 (28 May 1993), pp. 1-2.
122. "Z xian zhengxie jianxun", Archival Document 5-01 (10 August 1990), p. 1.
123. Archival Document 10-1, p. 1.
124. Ibid., p. 17.
125. "Gaijin quanhui kaifa, tigao xieshang zhiliang" (Reform the Methods of Plenary Sessions, Improve the Quality of Political Consulation), Archival Document 4-04 (no date available), pp. 1-2.
126. "Zhengxie Z xian weiyuanhui guanyu zhengxie jiguan gongzuo zhidu de jixiang guiding" (Several Draft Regulations on the Working Procedures of the Z County PPCC), Archival Document 3-06 (9 July 1984).
127. Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, James D. Morrow, Randolph M. Siverson and Alastair Smith, "Policy Failure and Political Survival: The Contribution of Political Institutions", The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 43, No. 2 (April 1999), pp. 147-61.
128. Non-substantial participation signifies participation, but without any real decision-making power over policy and restricted to issues approved by the authority.