China's Party CongressNominally the highest decision-making body in the Chinese Communist Party, the Party Congress is responsible for determining party policy and the selection of China's leaders. Guoguang Wu provides the first analysis of how the Party Congress operates to elect Party leadership and decide Party policy, and explores why such a formal performance of congress meetings, delegate discussions, and non-democratic elections is significant for authoritarian politics more broadly. Taking institutional inconsistency as the central research question, this study presents a new theory of 'mutual contextualization' to reveal how informal politics and formal institutions interact with each other. Wu argues that despite the prevalence of informal politics behind the scenes, authoritarian politics seeks legitimization through a combination of political manipulation and the ritual mobilization of formal institutions. This ambitious book is essential reading for all those interested in understanding contemporary China, and an innovative theoretical contribution to the study of comparative politics. |
Other editions - View all
China's Party Congress: Power, Legitimacy, and Institutional Manipulation Guoguang Wu Limited preview - 2015 |
China's Party Congress: Power, Legitimacy, and Institutional Manipulation Guoguang Wu No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
13th Party 7th Party Congress adopted amendment authoritarian ballot Bao Tong Beijing Bo Yibo cadres campaign candidates CCP’s Central Committee central leadership Central Secretariat Chen Boda Chen Yun China China’s Party Congress Chinese Communist Party Chinese politics Committee’s congressional constitutional Dang democracy democratic Deng Liqun Deng Xiaoping discussion drafting elite endorse Hu Jintao Hu Yaobang huiyi Ibid ideological informal politics institutional manipulation intra-Party investigation Jiang Zemin leaders legitimacy legitimization lishi Liu Shaoqi Mao Zedong Mao’s Maoist nomination norms organization organizational Party Center Party Charter Party chief Party leadership Party members Party’s Peng Zhen People’s platform plenary Politburo political report post-Mao Presidium preview election quanguo daibiao dahui quanguo daibiao dahuiyanjiu reform Renmin chubanshe secretary tion University Press voting Wang Ming wenxian xuanju Yan’an yanjiu Zhang Zhao Ziyang zhengzhi gaige Zhonggong bada Zhonggong dangshi Zhonggong zhongyang Zhou Enlai ZZDY-First Department