Legitimating the Chinese Communist Party Since Tiananmen

Legitimating the Chinese Communist Party Since Tiananmen
Author: Peter Sandby-Thomas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2010-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136962328

The dominant view concerning the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is that it is simply a matter of time before it comes to an end. This view has been dominant since the pro-democracy protests in 1989 and has only been strengthened by the increasing number of protests in recent years. However, the Chinese Communist Party has continued to remain in power throughout this period and its rule appears to be secure in the short-to medium-term. As the twentieth anniversary of the military suppression of the pro-democracy demonstrations approaches, this book explains how the Chinese Communist Party has maintained its authority since 1989. It provides a detailed analysis of the Party’s discourse emphasising stability in the post-Tiananmen period, analysing the government’s propaganda in order to show how this discourse has been used by the Party to legitimate its authority. The interdisciplinary nature of this book makes it relevant to a number of different academic disciplines including Asian studies, China studies, international relations, politics and sociology.

Legitimating the Chinese Communist Party Since Tiananmen

Legitimating the Chinese Communist Party Since Tiananmen
Author: Peter Sandby-Thomas
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2010-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136962336

Provides a detailed analysis of the Chinese Communist Party's discourse in the post-Tiananmen period which emphasises stability, and which has been used by the Party to legitimate its authority.

Politics in China Since 1949

Politics in China Since 1949
Author: Robert Weatherley
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2007-01-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134166575

Since the victory of the 1949 revolution the incumbency of the Chinese Communist Party has been characterized by an almost relentless struggle to legitimize its monopoly on political power. During the Mao era, attempts to derive legitimacy focused primarily on mass participation in political affairs, a blend of Marxist and nationalist ideology, and the charismatic authority of Mao Zedong. The dramatic failure of the Cultural Revolution forced the post-Mao leadership to discard these discredited paradigms of legitimacy and move towards an almost exclusively performance based concept founded on market economic reform. The reforms during the 1980s generated a number of unwelcome but inevitable side effects such as official corruption, high unemployment and significant socio-economic inequality. These factors culminated ultimately in the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and throughout China. Since Tiananmen the party has sought to diversify the basis of its legitimacy by adhering more closely to constitutional procedures in decision making and, to a certain extent, by reinventing itself as a conservative nationalist party. This probing study of post-communist revolution Chinese politics sets out to discover if there is a plausible alternative to the electoral mode or if legitimacy is the exclusive domain of the multi-party system.

The Chinese Communist Party's Capacity to Rule

The Chinese Communist Party's Capacity to Rule
Author: Jinghan Zeng
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 387
Release: 2015-10-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137533684

Why did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) not follow the failure of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union? This book examines this question by studying two crucial strategies that the CCP feels it needs to implement in order to remain in power: ideological reform and the institutionalization of leadership succession.

Self-reflections of Fears and Dreams

Self-reflections of Fears and Dreams
Author: Ray T. Hartman
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2023
Genre: Legitimacy of governments
ISBN: 1666916854

Ray Hartman provides an intellectual history of Chinese legitimacy as it was understood by the young Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Providing insights into CCP leaders' self-perceptions regarding their own legitimacy, he shows how that conception dictated the Party's policies regarding the people's welfare, the economy, and military strategy.

Changing State-society Relations In Contemporary China

Changing State-society Relations In Contemporary China
Author: Wei Shan
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2016-08-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9814618578

This book attempts to provide an overview of social and political changes in Chinese society since the global financial crisis. Rapid economic development has restructured the setup of society and empowered or weakened certain social players. The chapters in this book provide an updated account of a wide range of social changes, including the rise of the middle class and private entrepreneurs, the declining social status of the working class, as well as the resurgence of non-governmental organisations and the growing political mobilisation on the internet. The authors also examine the implications of those changes for state-society relations, governance, democratic prospects, and potentially for the stability of the current political regime.

China's Transition from Communism - New Perspectives

China's Transition from Communism - New Perspectives
Author: Guoguang Wu
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317501209

As China moved from a planned to a market economy many people expected that China’s political system would similarly move from authoritarianism to democracy. It is now clear, however, that political liberalisation does not necessarily follow economic liberalisation. This book explores this apparent contradiction, presenting many new perspectives and new thinking on the subject. It considers the path of transition in China historically, makes comparisons with other countries and examines how political culture and the political outlook in China are developing at present. A key feature of the book is the fact that most of the contributors are China-born, Western-trained scholars, who bring deep knowledge and well informed views to the study.

Mao's China And Post-mao China: Revolution, Recovery And Rejuvenation

Mao's China And Post-mao China: Revolution, Recovery And Rejuvenation
Author: Robert Weatherley
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2022-09-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1800612249

If the history of modern China was written as a book, its author would be accused of losing touch with reality. During the twentieth century, China underwent two revolutions, a number of wars, endured a radical and destabilising form of communism and then hurried quickly towards a system of open market economics whilst remaining under the control of a nominally communist party. Currently the fastest growing economy in the world with an increasingly sophisticated and expanding military, China is widely expected to emerge as the world's next superpower, eclipsing the United States in the not too distant future.However, not everything is going smoothly for Beijing. Unemployment rates are spiralling, inequality is rife and official corruption at all levels remains an Achilles heel for the Chinese Communist Party, despite Xi Jinping's best endeavours to wipe it out. Worst of all, environmental degradation is at such a serious level that it threatens the success of the Chinese economy and the stability of Chinese society.Against this scarcely believable backdrop and based on a series of lectures, seminars and research conducted by the author, Mao's China and Post-Mao China captures the dynamics, dynamism and disasters of Chinese politics since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This advanced textbook identifies three key themes that have underpinned the post-revolutionary era, the so-called 'three Rs' — Revolution, Recovery and Rejuvenation — and is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics of modern China at the undergraduate and postgraduate level

Political Thought and China’s Transformation

Political Thought and China’s Transformation
Author: H. Li
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1137427817

Since the late 1970s China has undergone a great transformation, during which time the country has witnessed an outpouring of competing schools of thought. This book analyzes the major schools of political thought redefining China's transformation and the role Chinese thinkers are playing in the post-Mao era.

Party Ideology, Public Discourse, and Reform Governance in China

Party Ideology, Public Discourse, and Reform Governance in China
Author: Yayoi Kato
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2021-02-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030667073

This book analyzes the operational dimension of the Chinese communist party’s ideology and reveals the complex relationship between ideology, language, governance, and political power in the broader context of China’s economic reforms. The book questions state-centric, legitimacy-focused, and content-based approaches to party ideology and analyzes its practice. Conceptualizing public discourse as a ‘language game’ played by the rules set by the party, the book examines how party ideology is operationalized by multiple state and non-state actors as political rhetoric for persuasion in contentious reform discourses. Through the case studies of the policy discourses over state-owned enterprise reforms under Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Xi Jinping, the book highlights ideology’s double-edged operational functions (consensus-inducing and conflict-inducing) and claims that ideology can be a double-edged sword for rulers: It is a vital resource to legitimate and sustain their rule; yet, it potentially destabilizes their rule as well. The book proposes new angles to study ideology, legitimacy, and governance and is aimed at political scientists who study authoritarian governance, policy process, and political communication. Its multi-disciplinary approach also appeals to sociologists, media/communication scholars, and linguists who work on rhetoric, political language, and media discourses.