Unit 11- China

  • Politics in Action

    • Tiananmen Square (1989)

    • Contemporary Issues

      • South China Sea

        • Trying to develop a Blue Water Navy (deep-sea technology)

        • sand and cement dumpings til islands form

          • Countries control the water up to a certain point from their land

      • Uyghur Muslims - Xinjiang Province

        • Muslim minority in the western part of China and put into re-education (labor) camps because they don’t want them to be free-thinking, democratic ideas

      • North Korea

        • NK has built a nuclear weapon

        • Most isolated totalitarian country in the world

        • Rogue-state

        • Arguable the more significant nuclear threat

      • Russia-China Relations

        • Both of them are adversaries to the US → pushed them together

        • Russia relies on China for the Ruso-Ukrainian war

        • Neither of them are rogue

      • Belt and Road Initiative

        • China’s attempt to counter western influence

        • Going into Latin America and Africa, using loans, building infrastructure, propping up leaders

      • Taiwan

      • Great Power Competition (GPC) with the US

        • Major countries trying to compete to be a hegemony

  • Geographic Setting

    • Eastern part of mainland Asia

    • North: Like the U.S. midwest/plains in weather and topography

    • South: Warmer climate

    • East: coastal

    • West: Mountains, deserts, and high plateaus

  • Critical Junctures

    • Warlords, Nationalists, and Communists (1912-1949)

      • During this period, as the dynastic part of China came to a close, people (warlords, tribal and regional leaders) became more polarized

    • Mao Zedong in Power (1949-1976)

      • Centrally planned economy and took decisive steps toward socialism

      • Communism in China is different from Soviet Communism

        • Soviet was more idealist in terms of Marxs, Lenin, Engel (communist ideals and lifestyle)

        • China was more state-control over resources and having more of a say over the economy

      • Socialist market economics: the blend of communist and socialist ideology, combined with free-market forces

    • Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of Chinese Communism (1977-1997)

      • Communist party-state

      • mid level power → major level power

    • From Revolutionaries to Technocrats (1997 to the Present)

      • 1990s: east Asia economic boom (Laos, Cambodia, etc.)

  • China’s preferred economic moniker is “socialist market economy” which refers to the country’s current economic system that mixes elements of both socialism and capitalism.

    • Not quite state capitalism but not much different

  • China Goes to Market

  • SOEs (state-owned enterprises) - a company whereby a majority stake/ownership is held by the government (part private, part public; majority public)

    • Ex) TikTok

  • Remaking the Chinese Countryside

    • Collectivized agriculture led to the household responsibility system (families > government)

  • Roughly 60% of China’s energy is from coal (down from close to 80% 30 years ago)

    • Still 80%+ is from fossil fuels.

  • China is the world’s largest source of CO2 emissions (along with other greenhouse gases; methane)

    • Smog in Beijing is REALLY bad

  • Unsustainable (read: destructive) farming practices

    • Which have caused water contamination, soil erosion, deforestation, and a reduction in biodiversity

    • High emissions + high deforestation = magnified issue

    • Access to clean water is limited (approx. 70% of water is not safe for human use).

  • “Reform and Opening Up”

    • Trade is the catalyst for economic development (and political stability).

  • PRC is the world leader in exports

    • “Factory to the world”

    • China is able to provide cheap labor and manufacturing (attracting overseas investments).

  • Labor shortage due to one-child policy

  • Communist party-state

    • Dominates all government and social instructions

    • Supporters of the socialist system

  • Shift toward a market economy 

  • CCP Organization

    • National Party Congress - The symbolically important meeting, held every five years for about one week, of approximately 2,100 delegates representatives of the Chinese Communist Party, who endorse policies and the allocation of leadership positions that have been determined beforehand by the party’s much smaller ruling bodies.

    • Central Committee - The top 370 or so leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. It meets annually for about two weeks and is charged with carrying on the business of the National Party Congress when it is not in session.

    • Politburo (Political Bureau) - The committee made up of the top 25 leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. (similar to the Central Committee)

    • Standing Committee - A subgroup of the Politburo, currently with seven members. The most powerful political organization in China.

    • Leading small groups

  • PRC Organization

    • National People’s Congress (NPC) - The legislature of the People’s Republic of China. It is under the control of the Chinese Communist Party and is not an independent branch of government.

    • State council - The highest organization in the state administration, directed by the premier. It also includes several vice premiers, the heads of government ministries and commissions, and a few other senior officials.

    • Cadre - A person who exercises a position of authority in a communist party–state; cadres may or may not be Communist Party members.

    • Nomenklatura - A system of personnel selection under which the Communist Party maintains control over the appointment of important officials in all spheres of social, economic, and political life.

  • The Judiciary 

    • 4 levels (Supreme People’s Court, provincial, city, township)

    • No power of judicial review. No interpretive mandate. Somewhat appellate.

  • Subnational Government

    • Autonomous region - A territorial unit that is equivalent to a province and contains a large concentration of ethnic minorities. These regions, for example, Tibet, have some autonomy in the cultural sphere, but in most policy matters are strictly subordinate to the central government.

  • The Military, Police, and Internal Security

    • People’s Liberation Army (PLA) - The combined armed forces of the People’s Republic of China, which includes land, sea, air, and strategic missile forces.

    • Central Military Commission - The most important military organization in the People’s Republic of China, headed by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, who is the commander-in-chief of the People’s Liberation Army.

    • The Military

      • Nuclear triad

      • 2M active troops (largest active military in world)

      • $293B per year in military spending

  • 1950s-1970s: Top-down “Mao-in-command” system

  • 1980s-present: “Fragmented authoritarianism”

    • “Leading small groups”

  • Policy process is more institutionalized and smoother

    • Less personalized and volatile

  • Socialist democracy - The term used by the Chinese Communist Party to describe the political system of the People’s Republic of China. The official view is that this type of system, under the leadership of the Communist Party, provides democracy for the overwhelming majority of people and suppresses (or exercises dictatorship over) only the enemies of the people.

    • National People’s Congress

      • Unicameral legislature

  • Political Parties and the Party System

    • The Chinese Communist Party(CCP)

    • China’s Non-Communist “Democratic Parties”

  • Most are indirect elections

    • Already-elected members elect those who will serve at the next-highest level

  • Direct elections

    • Most common in rural villages

  • Political Culture, Citizenship, and Identity

    • From Communism to Consumerism

  • Interest Groups, Social Movements, and Protest

    • CCP supports official mass organizations

      • Increase in NGOs since late 1990s

    • Protest and the Party-State

      • Tiananmen Massacre of 1989

      • Falun Gong Movement- conservative meditation movement

        • Shen yun

  • The Political Impact of Technology

    • Chinese party-state wants citizens to become computer literate

      • Also want to define and dictate Internet use

    • Technology empowers citizens

  • Political Challenges and Changing Agendas

    • More people living in cities than the countryside

    • Rapid (planned) urbanization

    • Global financial crisis of 2008

  • China and the Democratic Idea

    • “Market-Leninism”

    • Resurgence of civil society

  • Is Demography Destiny?

    • Youth Politics and the Generational Divide

      • Population boom prior to the one-child policy

      • Strain social services

    • China’s “Graying Population”

      • Over 60-year-olds are the most rapidly expanding age group

    • Higher education is expanding

  • Chinese Politics in Comparative Perspective

    • China as a Communist Party-State

      • Totalitarianism

    • China as a Developing Country 

      • More successful than many other nations

      • Predatory states

      • Developmental state