“Power from the People, for the People”: the Communist Party of China and Political Reform with Chinese Characteristics

• Sean Golden ^[1]
  1. [1] Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

     Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
• Localización: Notes internacionals CIDOB, ISSN-e 2013-4428, Nº. 103, 2014, págs. 1-6
• Idioma: español
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • The Party’s preoccupation with maintaining its “ruling status” demonstrates a concern with legitimacy and with the mechanisms that are needed to gain and maintain legitimacy.

    The CPC runs the risk of losing power were it to lose the support of the people and that there is no guarantee of the people’s support: the Party must earn it.

    Only if the Party is in power can it work to improve the people’s standard of living; only if it improves the people’s standard of living can it hope to remain in power. Which comes first? The current fight against corruption is an example of the Party’s concern for the people’s perception of Party governance.

    Thinkers like Sun Yat-sen tried to explain Euroamerican concepts to a Chinese society that did not share the Euroamerican tradition.

    Now it has become necessary to explain the new Chinese concepts of political reform to Euroamerican societies that do not share the Chinese tradition. In one tradition people are accustomed to being selected; in the other, to being elected.

    The Party-State’s ability to manage modernisation, to maintain institutional stability, to sustain the rate of economic growth (efficiency), and to equitably distribute wealth (equity) are the factors that give it political legitimacy. Therefore, there are three key elements for the country’s future: stability, efficiency and equity.

    There is no separation between the CPC and the State Administration, a situation that rules out alternation in power, but the possibility of a loss of legitimacy because of mismanagement could precipitate social movements that might alter the political.