Training the Party: Party Adaptation and Elite Training in Reform-era China

266 Pages·2015·1.55 MB·English

by  Charlotte P. Lee

Training the Party
CharlotteLeeconsidersorganizationalchangestakingplacewithinthe
contemporary Chinese Communist Party (CCP), examining the
party’s renewed emphasis on an understudied but core set of
organizations: party-managed training academies or “party schools.”
This national network of organizations enables party authorities to
exert political control over the knowledge, skills, and careers of
officials. Drawing on in-depth field research and novel datasets, Lee
finds that the party school system has not been immune to broader
market-basedreformsbutinsteadhasincorporatedmanyofthesame
strategies as actors in China’s hybrid, state-led private sector. In the
searchforrevenueandstatus,schoolshaveupdatedtraining content
and become more entrepreneurial as they compete and collaborate
withdomesticandinternationalactors.Thisbookdrawsattentionto
surprisingdynamismlocatedwithinthepartyinpoliticalorganizations
thought immune to change, and to the transformative effect of the
marketonChina’spoliticalsystem.
charlotte lee is Associate Director of the China Program at
Stanford University’s Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.
Prior to joining the Stanford China Program, she taught courses in
Chinese politics, comparative politics, and international relations at
Hamilton College and the United States Air Force Academy. Her
research focuses on the institutions of authoritarian regimes, public
bureaucracies,organizations,andcontemporaryChinesepolitics.She
holds a doctoratein political science from Stanford University and a
Bachelor of Arts in political economy and Asian studies from the
UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley.

Training the Party
Party Adaptation and Elite Training
in Reform-era China
Charlotte P. Lee
StanfordUniversity
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107090637
©CharlotteP.Lee2015
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2015
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Lee,CharlotteP.,1969–
Trainingtheparty:partyadaptationandelitetraininginreform-era
China/CharlotteP.Lee.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-09063-7
1. Zhongguogongchandang. 2. China–Politicsandgovernment–1949
I. Title.
JQ1519.A5C349 2015
324.2510075–dc23
2015004121
ISBN978-1-107-09063-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures vii
Listoftables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Theorganizationallandscape:partyschools’development
andorganization 28
3 Managingthemanagers:partyschoolsasapipeline
tohigheroffice 55
4 Fusingpartyandmarket:introducingmarket-based
incentivestothepartyschoolsystem 89
5 Theentrepreneurialpartyschool:partyschoolresponses
toreforms 123
6 Adaptationmeasured:contentanalysisofpartyschool
training 157
7 Conclusion:risksandlimitstopartyschool
reforms 178
Appendices
A Numberofpartyschools,bylocaleandnationalshareof
leadingcadres 202
B Noteonsourcesandresearchmethods 203
C CentralPartySchoolorganization 208
D CityZtrainingallocations,2008 209
E DescriptivestatisticsandrobustnesstestsofPSM
presentedinChapter3 212
F CentralPartySchoolMid-CareerCadreTraining
Classesdescriptivedata 221
v
vi Contents
G Internationalpartnerships,centralandprovincial-level
partyschools 224
H Categoriesforcodingtrainingsyllabi 227
References 229
Index 247
Figures
2.1 Localpartyorgansinvolvedincadreeducation
(district-levelexample) 36
2.2 Governmentorgansinvolvedincivilservantandcadre
education(district-levelexample) 37
3.1 Frequencyofadministrativerank,2003ChinaGSS 67
3.2 Prematchpropensityscoredistribution 74
3.3 Postmatchpropensityscoredistribution 74
4.1 Central-levelorganizationsofcadretraining 101
4.2 Shareoftotaltraining,byschooltype 117
4.3 CentralPartySchooltraineevolume,1977–2000 119
4.4 Timelineofdomestictrainingproviders 121
6.1 PercentofCPStrainingclasstimededicatedto
partybuildingcontent,1983–2007 160
6.2 PercentofCPStrainingtimededicatedtoorthodox
theory,1983–2007 163
6.3 PercentofCPStrainingtimededicatedtothetheoriesof
reform-eraleaders,1983–2007 164
6.4 PercentofCPStrainingclasstimededicatedto
managementcontent,1983–2007 165
6.5 PercentofCPStrainingclasstimededicatedtobriefings,
1983–2007 166
6.6 PercentofCPStrainingclasstimededicatedtopolicy
andlawcontent,1983–2007 167
6.7 Mid-careercadretrainingclasstrainingcontent,
2007–08 174
B.1 CadrepopulationandGDPpercapita,coastalregion 205
B.2 CadrepopulationandGDPpercapita,centralregion 205
B.3 LeadingcadrepopulationandGDPpercapita,
coastalregion 206
B.4 LeadingcadrepopulationandGDPpercapita,
centralregion 206
vii
viii Listoffigures
B.5 LeadingcadrepopulationandGDPpercapita,all
regions 207
B.6 CadrepopulationandGDPpercapita,allregions 207
E.1 Absolutedistancebetweenthepropensityscoresofeach
treatmentobservationandnearestneighbormatch 216