Political Institutions of China

ELECTIONS

Party controls

Direct elections are held at the local level

Direct, secret-ballot elections at local level.

NONCOMMUNIST PARTIES CCP allows the existence of eight

"democratic" parties. 

Membership

Important advisory role to the party leaders. 

No independent democratic parties

Political InstitutionsCCP 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

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 Prime Minister carry out the decisions made by National Peoples Congress (or Politburo)

› Chinese bureaucrats are paralled by party members assigned to their ministries

› 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 system campaigns. 

Human Rights organizations criticize China

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

Policies and Issues Economic reforms

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 TodayDemocratic 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 encouragedemocracy and also be capable of taking resolute action at criticalmoments." -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.