China Politics: Participation, Interest Articulation and Aggregation

Political Participation

Before 1949, citizens are traditionally considered to be the subjects of the government instead of participants of the government.
The communist party created the economic relationship between the citizens and the government which redefined political participation.
However, old traditions like personal ties and relationships still affect China's political processes, and influence actions and beliefs of all citizens

Party and Participation

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the largest political party in the world in terms of total formal membership, but the members only make up a small minority of the country's population.
Members are largely recruited from the CCP's Youth League, and must be fully committed to the ideals of communism and who are willing to devote a great deal of time and energy to party affairs.
During the Maoist era, most cadres were peasants or factory workers, and few were intellectuals or professionals. After Deng's reforms, people with technical training increasingly led the party and less than 40 percent of party members came from the peasantry.
President Jiang Zemin also argued that the CCP should not just represent workers and peasants but business interests as well, so now, most Chinese entrepreneurs are CCP members.

Youth League

The Growth of Civil Society

In the 1990s, NGOs were first allowed to register with the government in Beijing.
New forms of associations have made it difficult for the party-state to monitor citizens, thus loosening the control mechanisms of the party.

Private social organizations that don't challenge the authority of the state began to emerge.

For example, recently activist organizations may protest against government-sponsored dam projects that would flood the farmland of millions of peasants
Even though the protests may change nothing, their mere existence is already a major change

Hu Jintao has announced a policy of "harmonious development" that will ask for citizen's opinion before expanding infrastructures or sponsoring economic development.

Citizens still believe the government lack transparency because it reveals its plans too late and in very obscure places.

Even though there are a lot more NGOs now, the government still keeps very close control of these groups.

Protests

In 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 showed that massive repression was the government's message to citizens that defying party leadership will not be tolerated.
Since then, recent major protests have not reached the level of conflict in 1989, but some still believe they will pose serious threats to the party in the near future.

In recent years, Tibet and Xingjiang, two autonomous regions in western China, experienced the most serious protest movements.

In Tibet, on March of 2008 (the 49th anniversary of the failed uprisings against China in 1959), 300 Buddhist monks demanded the release of other detained monks while Tibetans and non-Tibetan ethnic groups fought, and rioting, looting, burning, and killing began.
China's Premeier Wen Jiabao blamed Dalai Lama for causing the uprising but he denied it. The Tibet uprising caused protests during the Summer Olympics but it still went on.
In Xinjiang, Uyghur protesters protested against the government's handling of the deaths of two Uyghur workers during previous disruptions. The police tried to stop the rioters with tear gas, water hoses, road blocks, armored vehicles, curfews, and no more internet and phone service.

Political Institutions

China's political regime is best categorized as authoritarian. Leaders are recruited through their membership in the Communist Party, but personal relationships and informal ties also help a lot.
As China moved away from the command economy toward a market economy, centralization of power has become even more problematic.
As a result, China's economic decision-making is now decentralization, or decolution of pwoer to subnational governments.

Local governments may often defy or ignore central government by setting their own tax rate or building projects without consulting the central government first.

China Politics