Suchergebnisse

"In Remodeling Democracy, Zhongyuan Wang argues that the Chinese Communist Party uses formal democratic institutions to sustain its rule. These institutions combined with the Party's leadership and the rule of law form a "socialist democracy" that serves as an alternative to liberal democracy"--

The legitimacy and vitality of all political regimes require the presence of linkages between rulers and their citizens. Current scholarship has identified different modes of political linkages and focused mainly on liberal-democratic countries, neglecting studies of non-Western regimes which also construct dynamic linkages to remain responsive to citizen demands and mobilise political support. This article addresses the critical question of why and how parties that do not have to compete for power establish linkages with their citizens. China presents a crucial case in this inquiry, since the Communist Party of China (CPC) strategically diversifies and creatively upgrades linkage relationships with its citizens beyond Western-style competitive elections. With first-hand data collected from 11 fieldwork sites across eastern, middle and western China, this article examines the linkage strategies, mechanisms and tactics the CPC has employed to respond to an increasingly complex society and to serve multiple purposes. This research attempts to offer a new conceptual framework for understanding party regime resilience, provide insights into the general theory of party linkage, and to encourage comparative studies of party linkage across different regime types. (China/GIGA)

An emerging body of literature views authoritarian elections as an institutional tool utilized by ruling elites to sustain power. However, like a double-edged sword, elections may also destabilize authoritarian regimes and trigger the process of democratization. How do authoritarian rulers make sure elections serve their purposes? What electioneering mechanisms do they employ to engineer electoral victory? Do electoral institutions matter in single-party regimes? Based on intensive fieldwork, this article will lay out for the first time a menu of controlling strategies and tactics deployed in China's direct congressional elections. Drawing on these mechanics allows local electoral authorities to play by the rules as they manufacture electoral certainties for the Communist Party. Furthermore, the political logic of 'socialist democracy' and its operationalization in local congressional elections will also be discussed. A closer look at the micro-level dynamics of authoritarian elections may help develop our understanding of why there has been a mixed record of 'democratization by elections'. (J Contemp China/GIGA)

Studies of political representation have focused on responsiveness driven by electoral mechanisms in liberal-democratic regimes. In a single-party system like China's, how does the government respond to citizens' service requests? Whose and what interests are being represented in governmental responsiveness, and to what extent? This article explores these questions through the lens of "representation as responsiveness" by analyzing an exclusive data set from the city public service hotline in Shanghai. Data analyses show that Chinese municipalities have good responsiveness to citizens' practical concerns, and the quality of responsive representation has been improving in recent years. However, some groups of residents tend to be underserved for multiple reasons. This article argues that a responsive model of authoritarian representation will become a significant source of resilience for the party regime.