 Elections designed to give the party- state greater legitimacy  Party controls elections to prevent dissent  Direct, secret-ballot elections at local level

 CCP allows the existence of eight "democratic" parties.  Membership is small and has very little power  Important advisory role to the party leaders and generate support for CCP policies

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)

 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

 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

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

 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

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

 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

 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

 Parallel structure  The National Party Congress is main representative body of CCP, not people › Has 2,000 delegates › Select people chosen for Central Committee

 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

 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

 China has a 4-tiered " people's cour t" 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

 Hong Kong  Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

 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

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 › Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China.