Suchergebnisse

While China's policies of reform and opening-up have triggered far-reaching economic transformations in the media sector, and the leeway for uncensored reporting has widened, the principles of political supervision remain essentially unchanged. Despite some organizational reshuffling and recurrent jurisdictional adjustments, the basic bureaucratic set-up for enforcing media compliance with Party policies stays in line with the Leninist arrangements of the 1950s. The challenges for effective control posed by the technological revolution in mass communication have been met by new innovations in the monitoring and filtering of sensitive reports. Although rule by law has also spread to the media, it lags behind the standards reached in some other spheres of Chinese public life. Regulations stipulate a host of licensing requirements. They stress media duties and remain largely silent on media rights. The enforcement system is marked by strains between multiple actors and unresolved tensions with the principles of economic reform.

Based on a documentary, statistical and discourse analysis, plus 30 years of interviewing in China, this article investigates the demo-political background of China's return to a two-child policy in 2015. It pinpoints the contested core issues that fueled a bitter polemic on the future course of Chinese birth policy and continue to fester in ongoing controversies. The article briefly reviews earlier challenges to China's controversial one-child policy since its inception in 1979/80, details the conflicts and mechanisms shaping the birth planning regime since 2000, and examines the role played by academic counseling, bureaucratic infighting, lobbying and civil society in the about-turn. Comparing birth planning to other policy arenas, it concludes with a discussion of societal and think-tank impact on Chinese political decision-making. (J Cont China/GIGA)

Based on a documentary, statistical and discourse analysis, plus 30 years of interviewing in China, this article investigates the demo-political background of China's return to a two-child policy in 2015. It pinpoints the contested core issues that fueled a bitter polemic on the future course of Chinese birth policy and continue to fester in ongoing controversies. The article briefly reviews earlier challenges to China's controversial one-child policy since its inception in 1979/80, details the conflicts and mechanisms shaping the birth planning regime since 2000, and examines the role played by academic counseling, bureaucratic infighting, lobbying and civil society in the about-turn. Comparing birth planning to other policy arenas, it concludes with a discussion of societal and think-tank impact on Chinese political decision-making.

Seit dem Sturz Lin Piaos im September 1971 gärt es in China. Ein innenpolitischer Zickzackkurs voll überraschender Kehrtwendungen und die Instabilität der höchsten Partei-und Regierungsorgane sind Ausdruck einer tiefgehenden Krise, die sich durch den Generationswechsel in der chinesischen Führung und das ungelöste Nachfolgeproblem zunehmend verschärft. Im Brennpunkt der Auseinandersetzungen stehen Fragen, die so alt wie die Volksrepublik China sind: Ist die Revolution beendet, müssen Suchkriterien wie Effizienz, Leistling und Planmäßigkeit an die Stelle politisch und ideologisch bestimmter Werte treten, die einem zügigen Aufbau des Landes entgegenstehen? Oder muß die Revolution wietergeführt werden, weil nur sie ein Festhalten an den emanzipatorischen Zielen des Maoismus garantiert und die Voraussetzungen für den weiteren Fortschritt des Landes schafft?