The Historical Dynamics of Chinese Politics: From the Great-Cross View (China Insights)

This book puts forward a new perspective, the historical dynamics of Chinese politics, for better understanding China’s politics, which is from the vertical history of China and the dimension of horizontal world politics, combining the historical analysis of how Chinese politics has come along the way and the comparative analysis of China's governance achievements in world politics. Based on this premise, this book attempts to explain the democratic discourse of contemporary Chinese political logic. The historical dynamics of Chinese politics comes from long-term communication between the author and Western scholars, which may help the global audience to understand China’s politics from all angles. Series Foreword Preface: On the Way of Political Development and the Political System in China Translator’s Acknowledgments Contents List of Tables List of Charts Part I Chinese Politics in Multi-perspectives: A Grand Dimension of World History and a Broad International Spatial Vision 1 Chinese Politics in the “World of Ideas” 2 A Dual Concept of Polity or a View of Approximate Polity 2.1 The Thinking Mode of Dual Oppositions and the Dichotomous View of Political System 2.2 A View of Approximate Polity 3 Chinese Politics in a Grand Dimension of World History 4 Chinese Politics in a Broad International Spatial Vision 4.1 The Same System with Different Choice: Comparison Between China and Russia 4.2 Democratic Centralism vs. Indirect Democracy 5 The Chinese Political View: Between the “General Way” and the Benefit 6 The World Experience That Is Significant to China and the Chinese Experience That Is Significant to the World Part II Evolution of the World Political System: Evolution of the World Political Structure and Global Impact of the Chinese System 7 “History of World Politics”: The Evolution Process of World Political System 8 The Origin of World Political System: Capitalization of Domestic Politics 9 The Emergence and Nature of World Political System: The Colonial System of Imperialism 10 The Collapse and Realignment of World Political System: Socialist Movement, National and Democratic Movements 11 Cultural Offence in the Cold War and Regaining Political Dominance of the World 12 “Chinese Are Coming”: The World Political System Starts Anew from China? 13 Evolution of the World Political Structure and Research on the Paradigm Shift of the World Politics Part III China in the World Political System: “One Hundred Years of Crises” (1840–1949) 14 The Qing Empire in the World Political System: The First Failure of the State 14.1 The Institutional Structure of Despotism 14.2 The Parodynia of Capitalism 14.3 The Failure of the Self-Improvement Movement 14.4 Old System and New System: Competitiveness of the System 15 The Beiyang Government in the World Political System: The Second Failure of the State 15.1 The “Jungle Rule” of the Warlord Politics 15.2 The Failure of Peasant Economy Under the “Jungle Rule” 16 The Nanjing Government in the World Political System: The Third Failure of the State 16.1 The Nature of the National Government of the Republic of China and the Political Crisis 16.2 The Failure of Agricultural Policy and the Collapse of State Power 17 Say Goodbye to the Past, and Enter a New Era Part IV “Against the Tide” of the World Political System: The Path of Political Development for the People’s Democracy 18 A New Approach to the Realization of “People’s Sovereignty”: Party Centralism 18.1 “Party-Centrism” in the System of Social Sciences 18.2 Organizing China: Why the Communist Party 18.3 The Nature of Chinese Revolution: People Orientation of Party Centralism 19 On the Constitutional Expression of “People’s Democracy” 19.1 “Political Maturity” in Yan’an Period 19.2 The Changing Constitution and the Change of the Expression of people’s Democracy 19.3 The Change of Context and the Change of Expression: A Discourse Analysis of Class-People-Group 19.4 Go Back to the Expression of “People’s Democracy” in the 1954 Constitution 20 Two Democracies in the World Political System: Liberal Democracy and People’s Democracy 20.1 The Tide of Democratization and the Dilemma of Liberal Democracy in Practice 20.2 People’s Democracy: Comparative Advantages, Challenges and Countermeasures Part V The Political Institution for Realizing People’s Democracy: Democratic Centralism 21 Debating “the China Model” 21.1 The Presentation of the Concept of the China Model 21.2 The Theme of the China Model 21.3 The Mythologized China Model? 21.4 Democratic Centralism Constitutes the China Model 22 Principles of Democratic Centralism 22.1 Semantic Interpretation of Democratic Centralism 22.2 The Political Nature of Democratic Centralism: A Democracy 22.3 The Cultural Mechanics of Democratic Centralism 22.4 The Microscopic Mechanism of Democratic Centralism 23 Democratic Centralism as a Political System 23.1 Democratic Centralism: From the Party’s Organizing Principles to the Regime’s Organizing Principles 23.2 Democratic Centralism as a Political System Part VI Power Relations Centered Around Democratic Centralism 24 Principles of Democratic Centralism in the People’s Congress System 24.1 Theory of Popular Sovereignty 24.2 Theory of Representation 24.3 The Theory of Consultative Democracy 24.4 Concentration of People’s Congress 24.5 Summary: Chinese Political Practice and the Discovery of Democratic Theory 25 Central-Local Relations: Political Unity and Economic Federalism 25.1 The State Theory of Central-Local Relations 25.2 Political Monism 25.3 Economic Federalism 25.4 State Governance Under Dual Structure 26 Government-Market Relations: The Developmental State as De Facto Democratic Centralism 26.1 “A Strong Developmental State” 26.2 The Emergence of Economic Interest Groups 26.3 The Interest Politics in the Policy Process 26.4 On the Relationship Between Capital Power and State Power 27 State-Society Relations: Corporatism as De Facto Democratic Centralism 27.1 Corporate Interest Group and Unorganized Interest Group 27.2 Corporate Interest Groups in the Political Process 27.3 Unorganized Interest Groups in the Political Process 27.4 Summary: “Rediscover” Chinese Democracy in the Study of Social Democracy Part VII Policy Process: Consensus Democracy 28 Consensus Democracy 28.1 Consensus Democracy as an Alternative to Majoritarian Democracy 28.2 The Institutional Basis of Consensus-Based Democracy and Consultative Democracy as an Important Form Leading to Consensus-Based Democracy 29 Responsiveness in the Policy Process 29.1 Responsiveness in Industrial Policy: A Case Study of Real Estate Policy in 2003 29.2 Responsiveness in Project Policy: A Case Study of the PX Project 30 Analysis on the Categories of Consensus Democracy 30.1 Institutionalized Consultative Consensus 30.2 Confrontation-Response Consensus 30.3 Lobby-Pressure Consensus 30.4 Summary: Levels of Consensus-Based Democracy Part VIII Models of Democracy: People-Oriented Democracy and Governable Democracy 31 “Standards” for Promoting “Liberal Democracy” 31.1 A Brief Account on Liberal Democracy 31.2 Several Popular “Non-Governmental Organization” Indices 31.3 The Deviation of “Objective Standard” and “Subjective Feeling” 31.4 Conclusion: The Study of Ideological Politics Rather Than Political Science 32 Alternative Models of Democracy: People-Oriented Democracy and Governable Democracy 32.1 “State” and Governable Democracy 32.2 The Elements and Internal Logic of “Governable Democracy” 32.3 The Value Model of Governable Democracy: People-Oriented Democracy 32.4 “Governable Democracy”: Transcending Liberal Democracy Afterword About the Author About the Translator Bibliography Index