Political Institutions of China

ELECTIONS Elections designed to give the party-state greater legitimacy Party controls elections to prevent dissent Direct, secret-ballot elections at local level Found most common at the village level (could be a façade) Indirect elections at other levels

NONCOMMUNIST PARTIES CCP allows the existence of eight "democratic" parties.  China Democratic League-intellectuals Chinese Party for the Public Interest-overseas experts Membership is small and has very little power Important advisory role to the party leaders and generate support for CCP policies  Meet at CPPCC during National People’s Congress (and attend NPC as nonvoting deputies)

Political Institutions CCP CHINESE GOVERNMENT    PLA  PARALLEL HIERARCHY Three parallel hierarchies Principle of dual role China's policy making is governed more directly by factions and personal relationships (guanxi)

Organization of the CCP Organized hierarchically by levels  The party has a separate constitution from the government's constitution of 1982, and its central bodies are: National Party Congress Central Committee Politburo/Standing Committee

Government Three branches - a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary. People's National Congress The National People's Congress choose the President and Vice President of China, but there is only one party-sponsored candidate for each position Executive/Bureaucracy The President and Vice President The Premier Bureaucracy

Guanxi Chinese for patron-client relationships Think nomenclatura in the CCP Helps to build contacts and power Can determine Politburo membership among other things

Executives President and Premier (Prime Minister) President is head of state with little constitutional power, but is sometimes the General Secretary of CCP Prime Minister is head of State Council, or ministers, and is in charge of “departments” of government

Executives continued They are elected for 5-year terms by National Peoples Congress, nominated by CCP’s National Party Congress They also serve on Central Military Commission, which oversees the PLA The CCP’s leader is the general secretary and he is in charge of bureaucracy, or Secretariat

The Legislature Think of Russian Matrioshka dolls Top legislative body is National Peoples Congress 3,000 members chosen by provincial peoples congresses across the country They meet in Beijing once a year for a couple of weeks to “legislate” for 1 billion+ people Pass laws; amend Constitution, On paper very powerful, but checked by Party

Legislature The National Peoples Congress chooses a Central Committee of 200 that meets every 2 months to conduct business Inside this is the Central Committee’s Standing Committee which functions every day

Party Representation Parallel structure The National Party Congress is main representative body of CCP, not people Has 2,000 delegates Select 150-200 people chosen for Central Committee It chooses a Politburo of 12 people to run party’s day to day business Many of these people work in Secretariat so Politburo chooses a Standing Committee of 6 headed by General Secretary (Thus merging executive to legislative)

Merging of Executive and Legislative Standing Committee of Politburo includes president and prime minister, plus closest associates, and the party legislative “branch” and party executive is joined with government executive

Bureaucracies State Council Government Ministers and Premier carry out the decisions made by National Peoples Congress (or Politburo) Chinese bureaucrats are paralled by party members assigned to their ministries Leadership small groups are informal groups that link other ministers to coordinate policymaking and implementation In spite of centralization, provincial and local ministries have had to adapt national policies to local needs

Judiciary China has a 4-tiered "people's court" system Handle criminal cases and government working on civil law codes “People's Procuratorate" Investigates suspected illegal activity Criminal justice is swift and harsh (capital punishment is a bullet in the back of the head) Human Rights organizations criticize China Not a rule of law system, rather a rule by law system

THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.“ - Mao                                                                                               The People's Liberation Army encompasses all of the country's ground, air, and naval armed services.  Important influence on politics and policy.  The second half of Mao's famous quote above is less often quoted: "Our principle is that the party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the party."   This propaganda poster represents life in the "Red Army" - the military under Mao before the People's Republic of China was formed in 1949.

PLA continued During the 1970s and 80s the government didn’t have money to modernize Army so fended for itself It ran hotels, construction companies, factories that produced pirate copies of everything, satellite dishes By 1990s government began controlling the Army and its activities

Internal Security Ministry of State Security People’s Armed Police Combats espionage and gathers intelligence People’s Armed Police Guards public buildings and quell unrest Ministry of Public Security Maintenance of law and order, investigations, surveillance Maintain labor reform camps No habeas corpus rights

Policies and Issues Economic reforms Corruption Iron rice bowl broken High unemployment Inequality of classes Floating population Environmental implications Demand for political power and civil liberties? Will contact through trade mean that China will become more like their trading partners? 

International Trade Hong Kong Special Economic Zones (SEZs). 

Taiwan China trades with Taiwan, but the PRC views Taiwan as part of China and Taiwan does not But they want to benefit from its trade

Political Change Today Democratic reforms can be seen in these ways: Some input from the National People's Congress is accepted by the Politburo More emphasis is placed on laws and legal procedures Village elections are now semi-competitive, with choices of candidates and some freedom from the party's control

"A good leader should encourage democracy and also be capable of taking resolute action at critical moments." -CCP Chairman Hu Jintao

Politics Today Hu was Chosen as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China on November 15, 2002 Became President of the People's Republic of China on March 15, 2003, following his election by the National People's Congress, thus replacing his predecessor Jing Zemin. He is the first party chief to have joined the Communist Party after the Revolution over 50 years ago Claims to have a photographic memory and tends to have moderate views.