The Problem of governance in China

The paper discusses the public sphere in China by looking at the commercial area, which is a key area in the emergence of civil society. To do that, the paper highlights the situation of public sphere and civil society from the late Qing to the present. Regarding the contemporaneity, the paper analyzes the development over the past few years of chambers of commerce in Wenzhou, where associational activity, like the development of the private economy, has gone well beyond other places in China. Finally the paper reflects on the notion of institutionalization by focusing on what type and how much institutionalization is taking place in contemporary China.El artículo nos aproxima a la esfera pública en China a través del ámbito del comercio, que es un espacio clave en la emergencia de la sociedad civil. El autor analiza el surgimiento de la esfera pública y la sociedad civil en China desde finales de la dinastía Qing hasta la actualidad. Por lo que se refiere a la contemporaneidad, el artículo examina el desarrollo de las cámaras de comercio en Wenzhou, un lugar donde la actividad asociativa y el desarrollo de la economía privada han tenido un papel predominante en China. Finalmente el artículo analiza hasta qué punto y qué tipo de institucionalización se está desarrollando en China

El problema de la gobernanza en China

The paper discusses the public sphere in China by looking at the commercial area, which is a key area in the emergence of civil society. To do that, the paper highlights the situation of public sphere and civil society from the late Qing to the present. Regarding the contemporaneity, the paper analyzes the development over the past few years of chambers of commerce in Wenzhou, where associational activity, like the development of the private economy, has gone well beyond other places in China. Finally the paper reflects on the notion of institutionalization by focusing on what type and how much institutionalization is taking place in contemporary ChinaEl artículo nos aproxima a la esfera pública en China a través del ámbito del comercio, que es un espacio clave en la emergencia de la sociedad civil. El autor analiza el surgimiento de la esfera pública y la sociedad civil en China desde finales de la dinastía Qing hasta la actualidad. Por lo que se refiere a la contemporaneidad, el artículo examina el desarrollo de las cámaras de comercio en Wenzhou, un lugar donde la actividad asociativa y el desarrollo de la economía privada han tenido un papel predominante en China. Finalmente el artículo analiza hasta qué punto y qué tipo de institucionalización se está desarrollando en China

Weapons of the Powerful: Authoritarian Elite Competition and Politicized Anticorruption in China

What motivates authoritarian regimes to crack down on corruption? We argue that just as partisan competition in democracies tends to politicize corruption, authoritarian leaders may exploit anticorruption campaigns to target rival supporters during internal power struggles for consolidating their power base. We apply this theoretical framework to provincial leadership turnover in China and test it using an anticorruption data set. We find that intraelite power competition, captured by the informal power configuration of government incumbents and their predecessors, can increase investigations of corrupt senior officials by up to 20%. The intensity of anticorruption propaganda exhibits a similar pattern. The findings indicate that informal politics can propel strong anticorruption drives in countries without democratically-accountable institutions, although the drives tend to be selective, arbitrary, and factionally biased.postprin

Contextualizing the China dream: a reinforced consultative Leninist approach to government

After he took over as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission in November 2012, Xi Jinping articulated for the first time ‘the China dream’ at ‘the road to revival’ exhibition at the National Museum in Beijing. As he did so he stressed that since the start of the reform period China had finally found the way to restore the greatness of the country and it was called ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’.1 What Xi has revealed is not a new political system or even a new term to describe it. It is a confidence in the existing political system which, despite all its faults, he now believes is sufficiently strong, effective and robust to deliver the national revival encapsulated in his ‘China dream’. The nature of the system that Xi loosely refers to, in line with the long-standing usage after the end of the Mao Zedong era, as ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ gets clearer if it is set within the analytical framework of consultative Leninism

Wielding the sword: President Xi’s new anti-corruption campaign

A state achieves legitimacy through multiple sources, one of which is the effectiveness of its governance. Generations of scholars since Hobbes have identified the maintenance of peace and order as core functions of a legitimate state. In the modern world, economic prosperity, social stability and effective control of corruption often provide adequate compensation for a deficit of democracy. Corruption closely correlates with legitimacy. While a perceived pervasive, endemic corruption undermines the legitimacy of a regime, a successful anti-corruption campaign can allow a regime to recover from a crisis of legitimacy (Gilley 2009; Seligson and Booth 2009). This is the rationale behind the periodical campaigns against corruption that have been conducted by the Chinese Communist Party (‘Party’ or ‘CCP’) (Manion 2004; Wedeman 2012). Political leaders in China have found it expedient to use anti-corruption campaigns to remove their political foes, to rein in the bureaucracy and to restore public confidence in their ability to rule. Through anti-corruption campaigns, emerging political leaders consolidate their political power, secure loyalty from political factions and regional political forces, and enhance their legitimacy in the eyes of the general public. In an authoritarian state that experiences a high level of corruption, an anti-corruption campaign is a delicate political battle that addresses two significant concerns. The first concern is to orchestrate the campaign so that it is regime-reinforcing instead of regime-undermining. To remain credible, the regime must demonstrate its willingness and capacity to punish corrupt officials at the highest levels.preprin

The problem of governance in China

El artículo nos aproxima a la esfera pública en China a través del ámbito del comercio, que es un espacio clave en la emergencia de la sociedad civil. El autor analiza el surgimiento de la esfera pública y la sociedad civil en China desde finales de la dinastía Qing hasta la actualidad. Por lo que se refiere a la contemporaneidad, el artículo examina el desarrollo de las cámaras de comercio en Wenzhou, un lugar donde la actividad asociativa y el desarrollo de la economía privada han tenido un papel predominante en China. Finalmente el artículo analiza hasta qué punto y qué tipo de institucionalización se está desarrollando en China.The paper discusses the public sphere in China by looking at the commercial area, which is a key area in the emergence of civil society. To do that, the paper highlights the situation of public sphere and civil society from the late Qing to the present. Regarding the contemporaneity, the paper analyzes the development over the past few years of chambers of commerce in Wenzhou, where associational activity, like the development of the private economy, has gone well beyond other places in China. Finally the paper reflects on the notion of institutionalization by focusing on what type and how much institutionalization is taking place in contemporary China

El problema de la gobernanza en China

El artículo nos aproxima a la esfera pública en China a través del ámbito del comercio, que es un espacio clave en la emergencia de la sociedad civil. El autor analiza el surgimiento de la esfera pública y la sociedad civil en China desde finales de la dinastía Qing hasta la actualidad. Por lo que se refiere a la contemporaneidad, el artículo examina el desarrollo de las cámaras de comercio en Wenzhou, un lugar donde la actividad asociativa y el desarrollo de la economía privada han tenido un papel predominante en China. Finalmente el artículo analiza hasta qué punto y qué tipo de institucionalización se está desarrollando en China.The paper discusses the public sphere in China by looking at the commercial area, which is a key area in the emergence of civil society. To do that, the paper highlights the situation of public sphere and civil society from the late Qing to the present. Regarding the contemporaneity, the paper analyzes the development over the past few years of chambers of commerce in Wenzhou, where associational activity, like the development of the private economy, has gone well beyond other places in China. Finally the paper reflects on the notion of institutionalization by focusing on what type and how much institutionalization is taking place in contemporary Chin

Do leaders matter? : Chinese politics, leadership transition and the 17th Party Congress

The opaque nature of decision making in China has generated considerable interest in the internecine machinations of elite politics. Particularly, but not only, when it comes to issues of leadership transition, considerations of factional formation and conflict come to the fore. This is partly to explain the transition process itself, but also out of concern for how new leaders might change the direction of Chinese policy. This paper suggests that whilst leaders and leadership changes do matter, they matter less than they once did. This is partly a result of the de-ideologicization and increasing diverse nature of elite interests and group formation. But it is also partly a result of the changed nature of China’s political economy; in short, there is less desire and less ability for new leaders to impose a clear paradigm shift