Second and Final Essay Assignment
Choose one of the following two questions:
(1) Discuss the impact of informal politics and corruption in China in recent decades. Describe different kinds of corruption and explain some institutional causes and the political, economic, and social effects. (Good starting point: G&M, ch. 14)
(2) Explain the place of democracy in China's political system. Include discussions about the concept of democratic centralism and democratic developments at the village level. What are the characteristics and effects of each? What pressures exist both to encourage and inhibit further democratization? (Good starting point: G&M, chs. 6-7)
posted by Prof Benson @ 7:52 AM
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The reform era brought about a number of changes in the social and economic spheres of China. As the government begins to loosen its grip on free speech and other civil liberties, they are met with more protest. Ironically, demonstrations and protests in China today are often echoing of Maoist ideology, or appeal to the roots of Marxism. In any case, the majority of political dissent arises out of a mutual appeal to self-interest on the part of both politicians and worker organizations.
Despite this apparent confirmation of the Marxist ideology of the revolution rising up from the proletariat, Elizabeth Perry argues that most cadre-based petitions are based upon the principle of fairness and thereby, self-interest; cadres in the lower tiers are upset with the benefits of their superiors and as a result express their discontent to the government or in public.
Among workers of both the state and private enterprise there is a growing contention for fairness; however, both sides consistently refer back to the Marxist dogma of he working-class being the “master of society.” The farmers protesting in Renshou and the industrial push in Shanghai are good examples of how both groups are attempting to call out the Chinese government’s fallacies.
Economically, China’s dual price system has facilitated a good amount of the disparity, all the while fostering new developments for the Chinese government. Workers under private enterprises are disgruntled at increased law enforcement and their cadre’s levying of questionable taxes, while those at the state-owned level of enterprise are threatened in an economy that inherently rules them uncompetitive.
The upshot to this contention is that people in some extreme cases have abandoned their loyalty to the party and have chosen instead to take up membership with outside ideologies through gangs, religious orders, or alternative outside governmental institutions.
Since the Tiananmen incident of 1989, China has witnessed an increasing number of acts of violence against legal authorities and police. There have been reports of sniping, assault, and in a significant amount of cases, outright murder. China is in a difficult position as it must now constantly redefine its paradigms and parameters in terms of free enterprise and the individual pursuit of capital.
In terms of corruption, protests are centered on the obvious socio-economic disparity between government officials/ cadres who exhibit a higher standard of living, and working class officials or laborers. Shanghai alone witnessed a good number of marches (115) in 1990, many of which were specifically speaking out against an abuse of bureaucratic privileges and injustice.
Corruption and contention in China will remain an issue in China until the erosion of an already unfounded meritocracy is detoured by the government allocating some sort of democratic and expressive rights unto the people with which they will have the ability to shape public policy. Until then the polity will continue to push the envelope of expression and dissent, and remain creative in finding their own means to secure their own local/ self-interest.
Of all the theories for why transitions to democratization take place, the one that is most accepted generally is that of economic development. This theory states that the more economically developed a country is, the more likely it is to become democratic. Another widely accepted theory is that regime change of all types is most likely to occur during times of economic downturn (Geddes 1999).
China’s economy has seen double-digit growth rates for much of the last twenty years including per capita increases for all income groups. This would seem to fit in with the economic development theory.
The late 1980s saw an economic downturn for China after almost a full decade of large economic gains. Inflation skyrocketed and the deficit grew substantially. Mass protests occurred in the capitol cities, accompanied with demands for political liberalization. So far, this fits the theory that regime change happens during an economic downturn. This movement was essentially crushed on 3-4 June, 1989, however. Since that time there have been no comparable mass movements for democratization.
Why did democracy fail to take hold in China despite its adherence to the general predictors for democratic transition? A possible explanation is the lack of a substantial middle class in China. One theory of democratization states that democratization rises with the middle-class share of income. A further theory states that democratization depends on a basic level of cooperation between the classes (Barro 1999).
If this is true it could explain the obstacles China faces to democratization. The gap between urban and rural China has been increasing over the past couple of decades. The government has also consciously separated the two groups, as was evidenced during the Tiananmen Square episode, where news of the event was cut off from the countryside to avoid rural participation.
For China to democratize, I believe it will take a greater “coming together” of rural and urban forces. I believe a greater push for democracy is being exhibited at the Township level, which has led to the creation of democratic elections at that level. This could lead the rural Chinese to push for more democracy. For democratization to truly take hold, however, it will take pressure from both the rural and urban classes, and thus far this has not been exhibited.
Barro, Robert J. 1999. Journal of Political Economy, Part 2, Vol. 107, No. 6, p. S158 (Dec. 1999). http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=2599696 (Apr. 27, 2006).
Geddes, Barbara. 1999. Annual Review of Political Science, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 115 (1999). http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=5366763 (Apr. 27, 2006).
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