1.5: Government and the Party

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Chinese Politics Part 1 – China and Political Science

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The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Chinese Politics Part 1 – China and Political Science

129 ratings

This course offers a conceptual framework for understanding China that highlights the intersection of politics and economics. It shows that rather than develop into a full blown market economy, state and party officials at all levels of the political system maintain significant influence in economic development. Such a “political” economy has had both positive and negative outcomes, which we will assess in detail. We also look at the origins, views, backgrounds and relations among leaders, and how those leaders make decisions about public policy and try to get those decisions implemented down through the system. China has few formal institutions through which citizens can participate in politics, but we will study the strategies Chinese people use to try to influence their leaders’ decisions. Finally, we assess China’s future and whether rapid economic development and the emergence of a vibrant middle class will push China towards greater democracy or whether the single party system is likely to survive into the future. The course is a quite useful background for Chinese Politics Part 2 – China and the World. Course Overview video: https://youtu.be/7FpNL67EbE4

From the lesson

Orientation and Module 1: Models of the Chinese Political System and the Structure of the Chinese Party/State

Before you start with the content for Module 1, please watch the Course Overview, review the Assignments and Grading page, and introduce yourself to other learners who will be studying this course with you.

1.1: Categorizing the System through Models14:13

1.2: Bureaucratic Model and Chinese Politics15:24

1.3: The Structure of the Political System2:55

1.4: Key Party Structures17:25

1.5: Government and the Party8:11

1.6: China’s Legislature3:31

1.7: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China’s Military6:01

1.8: CCP Controls the Judiciary5:53

Meet the Instructors

David Zweig
Chair Professor of the Division of Social Science and Director of Center on China’s Transnational Relations

[MUSIC]

So now let's talk about the relationship between the government and the party.

The most important government organization is the State Council which

is really the equivalent of a Western cabinet.

Has maybe sixty ministers or members.

But it has a Standing Committee of about 15 people to make the key decisions.

It meets, we believe, about once or twice a week.

It's run by the Prime Minister.

But we also find a high degree of overlap between the members

of this organization and members of the Politburo Standing Committee.

So for example, the Prime Minister was usually the third ranking member

of the Politburo Standing Committee, but

now Li Keqiang, who is the current Prime Minister, is actually number two.

Some Vice Premiers, such as the man named Zhang Gaoli is an executive

Vice Premiere, but he's also the last,

he's the seventh member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

Now the State Council really can make a lot of very important announcements, and

the Prime Minister himself often needs the support of the General Secretary of

the Communist Party if he really wants to push through his policies.

Now, the party penetrates the government at every level of the system.

Every government office, every university department or

every state-owned enterprise has a party branch, and a party secretary.

And this was actually very important in the early days of the take over, and

you establish really a parallel government and party structure.

And now today, for example, if you set up a new foreigner joint venture,

they may try and get, now they're trying to get them put

a communist party secretary or a communist party group in that.

Now, province has a governor, and also has the party secretary.

And the ladder, the party secretary, really has much greater authority and

can intervene a lot more, and that's actually in terms of upward mobility.

That's a more important position, to be in the party's secretary in a province.

It's much easier to jump up to Beijing than it would be to be a governor.

In a state owned enterprise, there's the party secretary and

he generally wields more power than the manager.

And politics permitting, the party's secretary will try and

intervene in economic decisions.

What I mean by politics permitting is that if it's a period of more leftist or

sort of the general tenor in China then people may try,

the party secretary will try and be more active.

And we see now, even today, Xi Jinping in trying to strengthen the influence of

the party is putting party branches into non-governmental organizations.

Well I want to make this point, I mean it's very important.

So we have this system called the Nomenklatura system, right?

And Nomenklatura means a lists of posts.

That's really important so here it says lists of posts.

Now the organization department, under the communist party, right?

The secretary.

It has the organization department.

The department has a list of posts and those posts, if it's on their list,

the Organization Department has the final say as to who gets the position.

Now, that you know, it makes sense that the party secretary,

the province would be on that list, but what we do find in China is that for

example the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Right.

He will be on the list, he's also a member of the central committee.

The minister of education, for example, a government post.

He or she will be on that list.

And one thing you might not think about but here you know it's one thing for

a university let's say the number one or number two university in China,

Peking University or Beijing University.

Their party secretary may be on that list but so all the president.

And so even though there may be some university council that will make some

decisions about who should be the president of Beijing University,

the final approval of who gets to be president of Peking University,

will be in the organization department of the Communist Party.

As we can see here, there's about 4,000 posts within the entire political system,

and those posts are really controlled by the CCP.

And there's a kind of overlapping supervision so

that someone like the President of Peking University knows that he has to

keep people in the organization department feeling good about the job he's doing or

he can be removed from office.

Now.

They key point in all of this really is you move down level by level by level,

is what we call territorial party committees.

And at each level of this administrative hierarchy, the province,

I'm sort of beating this into your heads, but at each level of the system,

we really do see control by the party;

this territorial party committee which can intervene in government decisions.

Now on these party committees,

these territorial party committees, there will be a host of people responsible for

different aspects of the society, the economy, population control,

things that you just might not think a political party should be responsible for.

But they really are responsible for these kinds of situations.

Now in the party at this territorial party committee we have this expression.

Tiao tiao, kuai kuai, right.

Which means the horizontal CCP, the horizontal

territorial party committee is more important to a government official.

Then the higher level within the government structure.

So here's the way I lay it out for you.

I borrowed this map from Kent Lieberthal from his book on governing China.

And what you can see is, so here's let's say Guangdong Province,

which is right near Hong Kong, they'll have a provincial party committee.

Okay?

Then underneath that will be Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee.

Within that committee there will be an organization department, right?

And that department will supervise someone within the government.

So this department will be supervised.

Now I raise this and

let's say that all of a sudden that energy is a really critical issue.

And the party decides that it's really got to keep control over energy problems.

Right? If there's a shortage, a blackout or

something like that.

So the head of the Energy Department, that position let's say down here, in a smaller

city, the head of that energy department, let's say that that's on the list.

That all of a sudden, his position, not the person, but

his position, is on that list.

His position will then be on the list of the Organization Department

of the Zhongshan City party committee, the organization department there and

that would go level by level, right?

So if he wants to hold his job he's going to make that person happy.

He may also sit at the Zhongshan government level right,

he maybe a member of the government committee but he will also get messages

coming down from the next level up the government telling him what to do.

If he wants to keep his job, he's going to make that guy happy,

he's going to make that guy happy, and

probably the least important person might to make that guy happy.

But most important will be to keep the people in the party happy with the job

he's doing.

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