Table Of ContentChina’s PolitiCal DeveloPment lieBeRthal
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China’s PolitiCal
Chinese and American Perspectives
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China’s path to political reform over the last three decades has been slow,
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DeveloPment
but discourse among Chinese political scientists continues to be vigorous
h
and forward thinking. China’s Political Development offers a unique look into the
country’s evolving political process by combining chapters authored by twelve
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prominent Chinese political scientists with an extensive commentary on each n
chapter by an american scholar of the Chinese political system. each chap-
a
ter focuses on a major aspect of the development of the Chinese Party-state, Chinese and
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encompassing the changing relations among its constituent parts as well as its s
evolving approaches toward economic growth, civil society, grassroots elec-
tions, and the intertwined problems of supervision and corruption. P American
o
together, these analyses highlight the history, strategy, policies, and imple-
mentation of governance reforms since 1978 and the authors’ recommenda- l Perspectives
tions for future changes. this extensive work provides the deep background i
necessary to understand the sociopolitical context and intellectual currents t
behind the reform agenda announced at the landmark third Plenum in 2013. i
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shedding light through contrasting perspectives, the book provides an over-
view of the efforts China has directed toward developing good governance, a
the challenges it faces, and its future direction.
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Kenneth G. Lieberthal is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy and Global economy D
and Development at Brookings. Cheng Li is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy
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at Brookings, where he is director of the John l. thornton China Center. Yu
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Keping is deputy director of the Compilation and translation Bureau of the
Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and a professor of poli- e
tics at Peking University. l
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P
BRooKinGs institUtion PRess
Washington, D.C. m
www.brookings.edu/press
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Cover photo: istockphoto.com Kenneth lieBeRthal, ChenG li, YU KePinG
anD
Cover design: Rebecca S. Neimark, Twenty-Six Letters
eDitoRs
Lieberthal-China's-covermech.indd 1 4/24/14 3:56 PM
China s Political
’
Development
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China s Political
’
Development
Chinese and
American Perspectives
Kenneth Lieberthal
Cheng Li
Yu Keping
editors
brookings institution press
Washington, D.C.
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Copyright © 2014
the brookings institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
www.brookings.edu
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means without permission in writing from the Brookings Institution Press.
The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to research, education,
and publication on important issues of domestic and foreign policy. Its principal purpose
is to bring the highest quality independent research and analysis to bear on current and
emerging policy problems. Interpretations or conclusions in Brookings publications
should be understood to be solely those of the authors.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
China’s political development : Chinese and American perspectives / Kenneth Lieberthal,
Cheng Li, and Yu Keping, editors.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8157-2535-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. China—Politics and government—
21st century. I. Lieberthal, Kenneth, editor of compilation. II. Li, Cheng, 1956– , editor
of compilation. III. Keping, Yu, editor of compilation.
JQ1510.C489568 2014
320.951—dc23 2014000169
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed on acid-free paper
Typeset in Adobe Garamond
Composition by Cynthia Stock
Silver Spring, Maryland
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Kenneth Lieberthal and Cheng Li
Introduction
Toward Good Governance in China: Perspectives
of Chinese and American Scholars 1
Yu Keping
1 The People’s Republic of China’s Sixty Years
of Political Development 39
Yu Keping
Comment by Kenneth Lieberthal 62
2 Transition from a Revolutionary Party to a Governing Party 73
Wang Changjiang
Comment by Larry Diamond 93
3 The People’s Congress System and China’s Constitutional
Development 103
Shi Hexing
Comment by Jacques deLisle 121
4 Political Consultation and Consultative Politics in China 136
Lin Shangli
Comment by Joseph Fewsmith 156
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vi Contents
5 The Rise of Civil Society in China 165
Wang Ming
Comment by Mary Gallagher 183
6 China’s Experiments in Social Autonomy
and Grassroots Democracy 192
Yan Jirong
Comment by Andrew G. Walder 211
7 China’s Public Service System 221
Yu Jianxing
Comment by Tony Saich 244
8 Decentralization and Central-Local Relations
in Reform-Era China 254
Yang Guangbin
Comment by Lynn White 270
9 China’s Grassroots Democracy 282
Huang Weiping
Comment by Jean C. Oi 299
10 China’s Interest Coordination Mechanism 308
Jing Yuejin
Comment by Cheng Li 328
11 Contemporary China’s Decisionmaking System 340
Zhou Guanghui
Comment by David M. Lampton 359
12 Building a Modern National Integrity System:
Anticorruption and Checks and Balance of Power in China 366
He Zengke
Comment by Melanie Manion 387
Contributors 397
Index 401
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Acknowledgments
T
his volume reflects an unusually wide-ranging collaborative effort, and we
are deeply grateful to the many people whose support made it possible
and whose determination and understanding have resulted in both Chinese and
English editions. We want to express our special appreciation to the following.
The Chinese and American authors of the individual chapters that make up
this volume Chinese and American scholars first wrote their pieces for a confer-
ence in Beijing in October 2010, then did the editing necessary for publication
of the volume in Chinese, and finally again reviewed and worked on additional
changes to make the volume more accessible to an English-speaking audience.
Some of the authors also participated in a follow-up Brookings conference on
this topic in May 2011. The expertise, commitment, patience, and understand-
ing of all the authors have been extraordinary.
The China–United States Exchange Foundation provided financial support
to the China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics, directed by Yu
Keping, making this entire project possible, including the costs out of this Eng-
lish translation. We want to express our gratitude to the foundation itself and in
particular to its chairman, Chee Hwa Tung, for his tireless efforts to improve the
depth of understanding between China and the United States.
The Brookings Institution has provided the ideal environment for bringing
this project to fruition. Brookings Board Chairman John L. Thornton and Presi-
dent Strobe Talbott have encouraged in every way research, writing, and related
activities at Brookings that increase the depth of understanding between Chi-
nese and Americans. We owe a particular debt of gratitude to key leaders in the
vii
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viii Acknowledgments
Foreign Policy program and John L. Thornton China Center—Martin Indyk,
Ted Piccone, Michael O’Hanlon, and Jonathan Pollack—for their encourage-
ment and support. Thornton China Center staff Kevin Foley, Iris An, Teresa
Hsu, Jordan Lee, and Robert O’Brien provided excellent logistical support for
this project.
Our thanks go to Andrew Marble, John Langdon, and Ryan McElveen for
proofreading and editing, and especially Meara Androphy for editing, proofread-
ing, and checking the translation and source citations.
We very much benefitted from the hard work of Professor Yu’s research
assistants, Yan Jian and He Zhe. Dr. He helped with the initial conference of
the Chinese and American scholars in Beijing, and Dr. Yan was exceptionally
helpful in coordinating contacts with the Chinese authors and in providing
editorial assistance.
Last but by no means least, the terrific team at the Brookings Press has been
enormously helpful. We want in particular to thank Valentina Kalk, director;
Rebecca Campany, marketing director; Larry Converse, production manager;
Janet Walker, managing editor; Susan Woollen, art coordinator; and Katherine
Kimball, copy editor.
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Preface
kenneth lieberthal and cheng li
P
olitical science is a relatively new discipline in China. After the founding
of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, this nascent discipline was first
criticized as a pseudoscience, then reorganized along Soviet lines, and ultimately
entirely abolished. Only in the wake of the Cultural Revolution was it estab-
lished anew as one of the consequences of Deng Xiaoping’s policy of reform and
opening up.
Since the 1980s, political science in China has evolved substantially: from
a discipline whose sole emphasis revolved around pedagogy to one promot-
ing both education and research, from being limited to the theories of Marx,
Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao Zedong to employing a wide array of concep-
tual approaches and foreign methodologies, and from basic ideological discourse
to indigenously based empirical research. The field of political science has now
become firmly established, and prominent Chinese political scientists enjoy
broad readership, frequently appear as commentators in the media, sometimes
brief top leaders, and actively participate in international forums and dialogues.
The twelve Chinese authors who have contributed to this volume are leading
scholars who specialize in analysis of the Chinese political system. Most hold
their master’s or doctoral degrees in political science from Chinese universities
and have years of experience in international academic exchanges and visiting
scholar programs. They are both very much a part of the Chinese academy and
serious analysts of China’s system. Many have perspectives that reflect the critical
thinking found among the liberal-minded intellectuals within the Chinese Com-
munist Party itself.
ix
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